Now the Commoner
by Side1ways
Summary: This story follows Ben, Carlos and the Gang as they proceed from the last year at Auradon Prep, to their final year at University. Sequel to Once a Prince. Feel Free to leave a Review :)
1. Chapter 1

**Hi Guys and Welcome to my new fanfiction. This one is a sequel to Once a Prince, but follows a different-ish story line. Basically, it follows Ben, Carlos and the group as they go from the last year in Auradon Prep to the final year of University.** **I hope to upload a new chapter every week, since I have the whole thing on my laptop, and each chapter should be about 3,000-4,000 words.**

 **This one is done a little different, so the story jumps from key date to key date, instead of following day after day, and some parts of the chapter will be internal monologues from the characters, that relate to the story. For example, the first bit in this story.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to leave a review :)**

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Ben's POV-Monday September 12th  
It has been six months since the incident and three months since our fight with Mal. The new school year was beginning, and it was exciting times for all of us. It was our final year at Auradon Prep, before we were allowed to choose what to do with our lives. In all fairness, most of the students had decided that they wanted to study at the University of Auradon, but at the moment, it was too early for me to decide.

After being disowned from my family, my life was finally my own. I wasn't expected to grow up and take the throne, I could finally do what made me happy, and in all fairness, Carlos made me happy. We were beginning this final year together, as he managed to skip one year entirely, and I couldn't be happier. Well, let's just say that was before the school year actually began.

It was 6:30 in the morning, and I woke up to hear a rather annoying buzzing. I tried to track the sound, and turn it off without opening my eyes, but I was met with failure. I looked for my phone, only to find that I had hid it under my pillow. I know myself too well, and if I put it on the bedside table, I would have snoozed it. At least this way I would wake up on time, as I would have to look for it.

I shook Carlos awake, who was laid next to me, and who had somehow ignored the annoying sound. "Carlos, baby, it's time to get up" I said, shaking him as I did so. He just groaned, and moaned as he was waking up, and shielded his eyes from the sun.

"Ben, its 6:30 in the morning, why are we up so early" he groaned before sitting up in the bed.

"Cause it's the first day of school, and we don't want to be late" I replied, getting up from the bed, and heading to the shower.

He responded quite quickly, "But we live on campus, how are we gonna be late?" he questioned further, and I could see that he didn't want to get up.

"Well, if we both want to shower, and get breakfast then we need to get up early." And I did not expect the response I got.

"Well, if we showered together, wouldn't that save time?" he said, with a wink at the end. I chuckled, before getting into the shower. After about 2 minutes of showering, I felt him join me in the shower, and I felt it was appropriate to respond to his question.

"If we showered together, it would take twice as long" I said, pulling him closer to me, and into a deep kiss, grinding our members together. I could hear him moaning my name, but I quickly stopped.

"Why did you stop?" he asked, in a rather annoyed tone.

"Because, if I carried on, we would be late" I replied, winking back at him. We finished up in the shower, and got changed into our clothes for the day.

We made our way to the cafeteria to see that it was completely empty of students. During the school holidays, most of the kids when back to stay with their parents, but with our…predicament, that was kind of difficult. We would usually go out for breakfast, but since it was the start of school, Fairy Godmother told us that they would be serving it at the school. After today, all the students would move back into their dorms, and everything would return to normal.

Luckily, she wasn't wrong, and they had provided us with some food. Whilst Carlos and I loaded up, we saw Evie walk into the room. Similarly to us, she was living on campus. We all grabbed some food, and started to eat breakfast. Fairy Godmother was hosting an assembly at 9:00 but she wanted to see us at 8:30, so we had some time to kill. Although to be fair, the three of us didn't really have much to talk about. We had spent the whole summer together, and knew pretty much everything about each other. We just sat there in silence, eating breakfast. Fun…

8:30am:

We went to the Fairy Godmother's office, and knocked on the door. She welcomed us, and we sat down at the desk, each wondering what she wanted. "Good Morning" she began, and we all responded in chorus "Good Morning."

"As you three know, it's the first day of school today, so I wanted to check up on you. I haven't seen you for most of the holiday and…" I just sat there and rolled my eyes. As much as I loved the Fairy Godmother, I felt like this was unnecessary. She had been conferring with the King and Queen all holiday, to make sure that we 'villain kids' didn't cause too much trouble, now we were off the isle.

Then, she finally spoke up about the interesting topic. "Ben, I was hoping I could discuss your power with you". She began, and I knew where this was going. "Many of the students are fearful that we may have a repeat of what happened…earlier this year."

Before she could go any further, I stopped her. "Don't worry miss, I've learnt to control my power. I won't use it, I promise." I could see the worry in her face disappear.

"These are your timetables. I have tried to place the three of you with at least one of your friends for each lesson. Measures have been taken to try and stop Chad and Audrey from interfering with your last year, but there is only so much as a school we can do." She then turned her attention to Carlos.

"Carlos, per the request of your teachers, you've been advanced to the same year as Evie and Ben, so the three of you will be graduating together at the end of this year." He was ecstatic, due to this. He had told me that he was worried about us graduating without him, so this definitely settled his nerves.

We made our way to the assembly hall, and met up with a few familiar faces. Lonnie and Jane had saved a few seats for us in the front row, and we saw Doug stood at the front, with the rest of the band. The Fairy Godmother began her usual speech, welcoming us back from our holidays and what not. Well, it was usual for me, but it was the first time Evie and Carlos had heard it. The band would play the usual songs, the Auradon national anthem, as well as the schools anthem, and then we were all dismissed for our first lesson.

Luckily, I had a free period, whilst Doug and Carlos had robotics 101, and Evie and Lonnie had maths. Jane had one of her optional subject. Suffice to say, it would be difficult two hours. I had no schoolwork to do, as it was the first lesson of the day, and I had no one to talk to. I decided to go outside, and spent the time reading some of the books assigned for my optional subjects.

We had the choice of a few optional subjects to study. As always, Carlos tried to get as many as he could, whilst I was a bit more relax. I had decided to take up Geography, as well as Literature, so I thought it would be best to read some of the books we were going to study this year. One of them was a book called 'Of Mice and Men', and I had no clue what it was about.

However, for the whole of the period, I couldn't concentrate. My thoughts were drawn to the forest, bordering the school, and I just wanted to run. It had been a while since I was able to use my wolf form. Well, to be honest the last time I had used it was when I faced Mal. Since then, I tried to keep it under wraps, as people feared it, like Fairy Godmother pointed out. I looked around to see that no one was about.

 _'What's the harm?'_ I thought to myself as I packed up my bag, and made my way to the forest. _'As long as no one sees me, then I'll be fine'_ I continued to justify my actions, as I made my way towards the forest. When entering the forest, I placed my bag down my a tree, surveyed the area once more, making sure that no one was about, and there wasn't. Luckily, I was wearing one of Evie's outfits, so I knew I didn't need to worry about taking my clothes off when I did so.

I quickly transformed into my wolf form, and boy after so long, it felt so good. I got that surge of power and freedom back, and I instantly knew why I loved doing this. I made my way deeper into the forest, running like it was the first time in this form, and I was absolutely loving it. I found a small river, and decided to take a small drink out of it. That's when I heard a voice coming out of nowhere.

"I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to do that" he said, chuckling to himself. I pulled back from the water, wondering where this voice is coming from. But the voice continued. "Dirty water contains diseases and what not" he said, before entering a clearing.

It was a blonde hair boy, with a similar build to me, and I knew exactly who it was. I changed back into my human form, before pulling him into a hug.

"Xander, I haven't seen you in ages" I said, and he returned the hug.

"Yeah, it's been too long." He replied, and I pulled out of the hug, and we started to make our way back out of the forest, towards my bag. "That's pretty impressive" he said, obviously referencing my power.

"Yeah, but I don't get a lot of chance to use it nowadays." I said, with a tone of disappointment in my voice. But I was quick to change the subject. "So, how was your holiday? I'm sure Rapunzel has happy to see you"

"Yeah, it was nice thanks, how was the King and…" he began, but quickly saw the expression on my face change, "Oh god, I'm so sorry Ben, I completely forgot" he said in an apologetic manner. I should be used to this by now, but it was still difficult for me to approach the subject.

"Yeah, it was fine thanks. I spent all of it with Carlos and Evie, so it's nice to have some different company" I said to him, trying to smile through my pain, which he noticed. We started to compare time tables, and found that we shared most of our classes. We then spent most of the period telling each other stories.

We got kind of personal when I started to tell him about my time of the Isle. I was very reserved about it, as I knew I had committed some pretty bad crimes whilst I was over there, so I just told people what they wanted to hear. Before long, the bell had gone, signalling the end of the first lesson.

Carlos POV

My first lesson of the day was Robotics 101, and boy was it enjoyable. It was one of the optional subject I'd chosen, along with History, Geography, Computer Science and Engineering. In order to get the best opportunities in the future I needed to stand out, and I decided the best way to do that was to nail as many subjects as I could. Anyway, since it was the first lesson back, it was mostly introductions and teaching us the basics of robotics. We were told that our final project would be to make a fully functional robot in our pairs.

I was partnered with Doug so all was perfect. I text Ben to tell him the good news and to ask him how he was getting on. He had told me that he had a free period by himself, so I wanted to make sure he was all ok. The teacher got us set on a task, and the two hours went by pretty quickly, but I still hadn't heard anything from Ben. The bell went signalling the end of the first lesson, and everyone made our way outside to enjoy our break.

I walked outside to see Ben sat with a blonde haired boy. I'm not gonna lie, he was pretty attractive, and that didn't help my jealousy, when I saw him and Ben laughing with each other. I walked over to them, and Ben was quick to introduce me to him. "Carlos, this is Xander, Rapunzel's son" he said, and I just nodded towards him.

"So, how was your free" I asked, trying to sound sincere but I really just wanted an answer for why he didn't text back.

"I texted to see how you were getting on, but you didn't reply, so I got worried." _'Perfect, that makes me sound caring, rather than mad'_ I thought to myself. As soon as I said I had text, he panicked, and pulled his phone out of his bag to check.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Carlos. I didn't hear it go off." He said in a soft voice. I almost forgave him, until he finished his sentence. "I spent the whole period with Xander, just catching up. It turns out we are in most of the same classes, isn't that great" Ben finished, with a large amount of joy on his face.

I tried not to show it, but my blood boiled with jealously. "Yeah, that's…great" I said, whilst gritting my teeth. Evie and Lonnie were quick to join us, and everyone spent the whole of break talking about Xander, while I just sat there and brewed.

I think Evie noticed at one point, and she whispered to me "Don't worry about Ben and Xander. They are just good friends" causing me to sigh a little, but then she added. "And if anything does happen. I'm here for you" clenching her hand into a fist as she did. We shared a light chuckle, but it was nearing the end of break, and I needed to get some stuff from my locker.

I said bye to everyone, and Ben quickly chirped up "Do you want me to walk you to your locker", but I kinda shot him down.

No, I definitely shot him down. "No its fine. I'll be alright" I snapped, causing everyone to exchange a few glances. As I walked off, I could hear everyone muttering about what had just happened, but I tried to not let it affect me. As I was taking my Chemistry books out of my locker, I got the feeling someone was watching me. Last time this happened, it was when Chad and Audrey ambushed me, so I was prepared to strike.

I closed my locker, and swung my book, only to stop 2cm from Ben's face. As I did so, he screamed "Woah, I'm innocent!" causing everyone to look over at what was happening. That's when I decided to let all my anger lose.

"Ben, what the hell are you doing? The last time someone did that was when I got pinned to a locker! You can't just sneak up on people like that!" At this point, he knew that someone was up. I'd never really yelled at him before, so this was our first proper argument I suppose.

"Whoa, I'm sorry ok! But why were you acting all salty at break? You didn't really speak to anyone, especially me. And then when I offer to walk with you, you just snap at me" he snapped back, and I just went red, blushing. It was enough for me to shout back.

"Oh, so now you want to know. It's not like you had half an hour to ask or anything." And before he could respond, I just walked away, heading for Chemistry.

I got to Chemistry to see that no one else was there. As usual I was early. I got my book out, and just started to make notes, trying to keep myself as occupied as possible, as I felt like I was going to cry. After about 5 minutes, Mr Deley walked in, and just chuckled to himself when he saw I was there. "You're always early" he said to me, as he was setting up.

"What's that saying, everyone is fond of? The early bird gets the worms is it" I chuckled back to him, and he just responded with "touché". That's when I realised who was in my class. After a few people walked in, I saw Xander enter the room. _'Oh this is just great'_ I thought sarcastically to myself. He spotted me, waved and decided that he wanted to sit next to me.

"Hey, Carlos is anyone sat here?" he asked, quite genuinely I might add. I realised that he didn't have a problem with me, but boy did I have one with him. To be perfectly honest, he hasn't actually done anything wrong, but I was jealous beyond belief, and that was enough reason for me.

"No, you can sit there" I said, forcing a smile and before he could talk, the lesson began.

After about an hour, Mr Deley decided it was time for us to do something practical. We got all the lab equipment out, and I was paired with Xander. I quickly realised that I had done the experiment with Mr Deley before, when we was teaching me the advanced Chemistry outside of lesson, so I decided to drop that into conversation. For some reason, I felt like Xander was competition, and that I needed to show him that I was better.

"You go ahead, I've done this before in my advanced classes" I said to him, before standing back letting him take charge. Then I decided to bring up Ben. I was curious about the pair of them, well more about how close they were. "So, how do you know Ben" I asked him, trying to sound as friendly as possible, and it worked.

"We used to be really close friends before he was sent to the Isle. Well, I considered him one of my best friends. We shared most of our classes together, and we always hung out after school," and even though I had asked him, that was not the response I wanted. I had effectively made myself jealous, but I had to try and respond to his statement, sounding as sincere as possible, "Oh, that's nice" I said fake smiling at him.

The rest of the day practically continued the same. I had sat alone at lunch, because one, I couldn't be bothered to listen to Ben and Xander talk anymore and two, I needed to get some books out of the library. I had a free last, so I needed something to do. When I got back to the dorm room after school, Ben wasn't there. I spent the whole night doing my homework before showering and getting into bed.

As soon as the curfew bell went, I heard the door open, signalling that Ben had returned. I didn't say anything, and just pretended to be asleep. He got showered and joined me in the bed. He kissed me on the forehead, before saying "Goodnight my sweet prince." After he did that, I relaxed a bit. Even after the day we had, and with us arguing, he will still willing to say goodnight, and pull me into his arms. I knew that as long as I was with Ben, then I would be safe and happy. For the moment, at least.

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 **So that was the First Chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed it, but let's be perfectly honest, it was one of those necessary chapters for 'context'.**

 **I plan to upload these every Thursday, but how long that lasts, I dont know. The file is 14 chapter's long, so hopefully I can keep it up. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and see you next week! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey Guys, and welcome to the second chapter of Now the Commoner. This chapter is where the story starts to take it's shape, whereas the last one was more about context. Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and I'll see you at the end.**

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October 6th – Ben's POV.  
I woke up like any morning, with Carlos in my arms. The same morning routine pursued, but it was October half term, so I could relax. I decided to let Carlos sleep in, so I got showered, dressed and headed for the cafeteria. As I walked in, I saw all of my friends sat around a table, and they called me over."Morning Ben, where's Carlos?" Evie asked.

"He's still sleeping, so I decided to get him breakfast in bed, so he could have a lay in." I replied, but then heard Evie mutter, "God, it's almost like you know." It was obvious that she didn't want anyone to hear, but perks of my wolf ability, I had more sensitive hearing. I asked her to accompany me to the food line, and asked her what she meant.

As soon as I did, she blushed massively, and said "I can't tell you. Can we just forget it." But I just looked at her. "Fine, but you can't tell anyone. Especially Carlos ok?" I nodded, agreeing to her conditions. However, what she told me I did not expected. "It's Carlos' 17th Birthday today, but he didn't really want to celebrate it. Every birthday Carlos has had, something has ruined it. Please Ben, don't make a big deal out of this. Just let it be." I sighed, but then she said. "Just consider it your birthday present to him" and I completely freaked out.

I needed to get him something. I know Evie didn't want me to make a big fuss out of him, but it was his birthday, so I needed to get him something. I grabbed some food from the cafeteria, and ran back to the room. I dropped the tray beside the bed, and left him a little note, saying that I had gone out for the day. Running out of the school, I found Xander. Although Evie didn't want me to tell anyone, I needed to lift into town, and Xander could drive and had a car. I told him what was going on, and he was happy to help. That was the biggest mistake of my life.

Carlos POV:  
I woke up a little later this morning, to find that Ben had gone out. Whilst he had left me a tray of food, it had gone cold so it was probably not the best idea to eat it. I made my way to the cafeteria, hoping to find everyone still eating, but instead there was no one. I tried not to get disheartened however, as no one knew it was my birthday, so they couldn't be expected to do anything for me. I grabbed some food from the café, and sat down at the table.

Within minutes, Evie came running over to me. "Carlos, I've been looking all over for you!" she screamed, before dragging me from my seat. I'd managed to grab my apple before I'd got too far away, so at least I had something to eat. She pulled me into her room, before whispering the lyrics to Happy Birthday in my ear. She obviously didn't want anyone to hear, and neither did I. Once she had finished, she pulled out a long, velvet type box, and was intrigued by what it was.

I opened it up to find a small charm bracelet, with a red gem in the middle. "Evie, this is beautiful" I said to her, with tears in my eyes.

"Well, it should be, it took me three weeks to make" she said, and I cried with joy even more. "Evie, thank you so much. It's absolutely perfect."

We spent most of the day together, as I couldn't find Ben anywhere. Evie had taken me into the town to treat me to some bits and bobs, and a meal or two. It was all perfect, until she decided to go to the toilet. I waited outside, and looked over to my right. What I saw completely broke my heart. I saw Ben with Xander's arm around his neck, and they were taking selfies together, laughing and having a generally good time. I took out my phone, and snapped a quick photo of the pair of them, before running back to the school. All I did was send Evie a message containing the photo, so she knew exactly what had happened.

I got onto the bus, and make my way back to Auradon Prep sobbing the entire time. I'd ran past Lonnie, Jane and Doug whilst in tears, causing them to follow me. I ran straight into my dorm room, and locked the door. The three of them, started to knock on the door asking if I was alright, and what had happened, but before I could shout at them, I heard Evie approach, telling them to leave. In a kind manner of course.

She knocked on the door once everyone had gone, and I let her in. For the next two hours, she proceeded to comfort me. We stuck on a movie, and she got some food in and we discussed how to proceed. "Evie, I'm going to break up with him." I said, through my sob. "I just can't take it anymore. Every time he is with Xander, I start to get all jealous. He just ignores me, like I'm not even there, and doesn't even bother to ask what's up. He ignores all of my text messages, and then snaps at me when I ask him why. It's just too much."

She sat there, and just said "Do what you think its best." And that was enough for me to break down once again.

After about an hour, Ben returned to the room, with the biggest smile on his face. I could hear that Xander was there with him. As soon as he saw me, his facial expression turned to concern, and he ran over, trying to comfort me. He placed his hand on my leg, and I kicked it away, then he tried to place his hand on my arm, but I just swatted it away.

Through my tears, I managed to speak. "Ben, I'm breaking up with you," I said, trying to remain as strong as possible. By this point, Evie had pulled Xander out of the room, so it was just the two of us. "Carlos why?" he said, starting to tear up as well. "This is why!" I shouted holding up the phone, showing him the picture.

"Evie told me that she told you it was my 17th Birthday. And all I wanted to do was spend the day with you. I just wanted to stay in all day, watching movies, cuddling into you. But instead, I couldn't find you anywhere. Evie then dragged me out into town, where I saw you and Xander cuddling. But it's not just that. Every time I text you, you just ignore me, and then why I ask why, you start to get all defensive, and snap back at me. Then, when we sit with Xander at breaks, you completely ignore me, and then when I proceed to leave in anger, you continue to ignore me, and don't ask what's up or anything. I just can't take it any more Ben! I can't keep being jealous of you and Xander, it's just heart breaking."

By this point, Ben had broken down into tears. "Please Carlos, I love you. You're the one I want to be with, not Xander. Please don't break up with me" he begged, but all I could say is "I think you should leave. Don't make this more difficult than it has to be." As I finished, I pulled his ring off my finger, and placed it into the palm of his hand.

He continued to beg, so I just shouted at him "BEN, JUST GET OUT." After I did so, Evie and Xander came running into the room. Evie came running to my side, whilst Xander practically had to drag Ben from the room. I continued to sob for the rest of the evening. Lonnie and Jane eventually came to my side, after Ben had explained what had happened, whilst Doug remained with him.

Ben's POV:  
Xander had to drag me from the room, as I wasn't willing to give up so easily on Carlos. As we left the room, I heard the door lock behind us, and I knew I wasn't going to get back in. Xander continued to drag me to his room, whilst I was just a blubbering mess. I was crying the whole time, holding my head in my hands, and just kept repeating "Carlos please" over and over again. I felt Xander let go of me, and I just dropped to the floor, curling into a ball, and continuing to cry.

"Ben, what happened?" I heard a familiar voice say, and I opened my eyes to see it was Jane. She was crouched beside me, alongside Lonnie and Doug. I tried to speak but I couldn't, instead stuttering and crying, making some rather strange noises. "Ben, breathe" I heard Lonnie say, and I followed her advice, trying to slow my breathing, and actually forming a sentence in the end."C-Carlos b-b-b-b" I stuttered, unable to say the word.

"Just breathe, we're in no rush" I heard Jane reassure, and once again, I breathed in and started again.

"B-B-Broke u-u-up" was all I could say, before returning to my previous state of a blubbering mess. But it was enough for them to get the message.

"Oh, Ben, I'm so sorry" I heard Lonnie say, but it didn't really help the situation, it only made me feel worse. I heard Xander speak up, convincing them all to take me to his room, and everyone helped me up off the floor, as I stumbled my way there. We reached the room, and I went straight for the closest bed, facing planting into it, and proceeded to cry into the pillow. Lonnie and Jane stuck around for a while, but eventually left to go comfort Carlos. I was stuck with Xander and Doug, and to be perfectly honest, they weren't the best at handling my emotions, no guys are.

The night was filled with an awkward silence between those two, and the only sound in the room was my crying into the pillow. Every now and again, one of them would say. "It'll be alright" or "There there" but nothing actually helpful. Within a few hours, I must have fallen asleep, still crying.

7th October-Ben's POV:  
I woke up the next morning, to Xander's rather annoying alarm clock. "Buzz buzz" was the sound it kept making, and it infuriated me to no end. "For god sakes, will you turn that thing off" I said from my bed, refusing to open my eyes, or even move.

"Not until you get out of bed." I heard Xander say, pottering about the room.

"What's the point" I replied, turning over in the bed. "Come on Ben, we've got tourney practise today. We've got that big game coming up" I heard Xander say, before entering the bathroom. I just groaned, trying to block out the noise of the alarm clock. Eventually I got my pillow, and threw it at the clock, managing to silence it, but I couldn't get back to sleep.

Last night's events kept replaying in my mind, and I broke down once again. Xander obviously heard my blubbering, and walked back out of the bathroom, with his toothbrush in his mouth. "That's why we are going out today. To get your mind off that" he said, but I proceeded to cry.

"Like I said, what's the point anymore" I replied, pulling the quilt over my head. I was not going anywhere today, or ever. I was just gonna cry over what had happened. Xander pulled the quilt off the bed, leaving me completely exposed to the cold air in the room. I mean, I was wearing clothes, but that still didn't help.

"Ben, you love tourney, and the team needs you" Xander replied, still trying to convince me to get off of the bed.

"No one needs me" I responded, still crying I will add. "No one needs me. Not Carlos, not my parents. No one" I finished still crying into the pillow. This whole conversation must have continued for about 10 minutes, with Xander grabbing my feet, trying to pull me off the bed, but I kicked them away. Then, he gave it one more go "Come on Ben, just get out of bed" he stated, once more.

"NO, GO AWAY" I screamed at him, my sadness now turned into anger, before planting my head firmly into the pillow. The whole day, I just laid there, never eating or anything. People tried to come and visit, but I shouted at them before they could get close. "No one needs me." I kept repeating.

10th October-Xander's POV:  
My alarm went off at 6:30am, as usual for a school day. I got up from bed, to see that Ben was awake, but he refused to move again. "Turn that infernal thing off" he muttered, but once again, I refused.

"Ben, we've got school today. Come on, you need to get up." I said, trying to pull the quilt off his bed. This time he clung on, and wouldn't let go. "What's the point of school, it doesn't mean anything. At the end of the day, nothing matters." He said, still grabbing hold of the quilt.

"Ben, come on. You haven't done anything but cry for three days straight. I'm pretty sure you haven't eaten either" I responded, worried about him, and his response further escalated this. "What's the point of eating. We are all gonna waste away eventually, might as well start now" he said, with a rather stern expression on his face. I knew he wasn't going to give it up, and I knew for a fact that I couldn't reach him, not like this.

"Fine" I huffed, allowing him to return to his sleep, while I got showered and dressed. I left the room to see he was curled up into a ball, crying. I shook my head, as I closed the door, and made my way straight for the Fairy Godmother's office.

On the way, I ran into Evie and Carlos. "Hey guys" I said, as I caught up to them, and suffice to say, I did not get the warmest welcome. Carlos looked like he was going to break down into tears whilst Evie just said "Xander" rather slyly. I knew it was best not to even attempt this, so I just separated from them. "I'll see you later ok?" I said, heading a different way.

I did feel slightly relieved however, as it was nice to see that Carlos was coping well with the break up, and by well, I mean better than Ben. When I reached the Fairy Godmother's office, I was overwhelmed with nerves. ' _I needed to do this for Ben, but what if it all went wrong. What if it all backfired?'_ I thought to myself. I quickly shook off the feeling and knocked on the door. "Come in" I heard her shout, and I was slightly relieved. At least she was in the office, so I didn't need to search for her. "Ohh, Xander. How nice to see you" she said, facing away from me, but as soon as she turned, and saw the look on my face, she knew something was up. "I'm worried about Ben" I began…

Ben's POV:  
It had reached 12:30pm, and I was still laid in bed crying. The negative thoughts continued to float about my mind. ' _No one needs me. My parents left, Carlos left. What's the point in anything'_ the thoughts kept prodding and prodding, when I heard a knock at the door. I just tried to ignore it, but the knocking persisted. "WHAT DO YOU WANT" I screamed, hoping whoever it was would just leave.

"Ben, its Evie. I'm coming in" I heard her say, twisting the door knob, and allowing herself into the room. I pulled the quilt over my face, as I didn't really want to see anyone, but I could feel her sit on the end of the bed. She placed her hand onto my leg, and as soon as she did, I completely broke down to her. "I love him Evie. I love him so much, and he dumped me. I'm such a fool, how could I just ignore him" I sobbed, Evie trying to comfort me as best as possible. She didn't say anything, but she provided me with a comforting shoulder to cry on. Both literally and metaphorically.

"How could I be so stupid? I saw what he was like at breaks and lunch, and I just ignored him. Focusing on my friends instead of him. We've been through so much, and I just threw it all away, because I'm a fucking idiot" I continued. After a while, she decided to speak up.

"Ben, it may be best for you to come sit with us for a bit. At least then, it might take your mind off…" she finished, while I broke down at the near mention of his name. "Like I always say, go take a nice shower, and I'll pick out some clothes" she said, helping me up from the bed. She helped me into the bathroom, and I locked the door behind myself.

I turned the shower on, reaching for some of the gels and shampoos on the side and managed to drop one of them on the floor. I ignored it at first, stripping off, and stepping into the shower, but I managed to stand on the bottle, and started to slip. I reached for the shower pack, only to grab the temperature gauge, and twisting onto the cold setting, but was unable to steady myself, and fell to the floor, causing a loud thud to occur. I broke down crying, sitting under the cold water, and could hear Evie calling out my name, checking the door to see if it was locked. I was too distraught to answer, so I just sat there and sobbed.

I also heard the Fairy Godmother start to shout through the door. "Ben, can you unlock the door for us" she asked, but I was too cold to move. I started to panic and shiver due to the cold water, and began to hyperventilate, struggling to gain my breath. I tried to focus on the Fairy Godmother's voice, trying to reach for the door, and starting to unlock it, but it was difficult. I managed to unlock the door enough for them to break through, and I just crawled up against the wall, still crying, panicking and shiver. I closed my eyes, and rock back and forth, trying to catch my breath, but I couldn't. Instead I continued to panic, struggling for breath more and more.

"Ben, focus on my voice" I heard Fairy Godmother say, whilst I felt Evie throw a towel over my body, trying to warm me up. "Ben, I need you to look at me" I heard her say, but I was too focused on trying to breath. Evie quickly caught on, and I felt her place her hand on my knee, whilst saying. "Ben, follow my lead" nudging my head up, causing me to open my eyes. She slowly breathed in, and out repeatedly, and I began to copy her, trying to calm my breathing. After a few attempts, I managed to get it under control, but I was still shivering, and crying.

I broke down in front of them both once again, shouting at the pair of them. "JUST GO AWAY. YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT ME" I screamed, jolting away from any physical contact. "JUST LEAVE ME TO CRY" I screamed once again, backing myself further against the wall. I saw that Evie and Fairy Godmother were startled by my response. "Ben, we do care about you" I heard the Fairy Godmother say, but I was too deep in pity to listen, so I just shook my head. They helped me up off the floor, and into the bedroom.

"Evie, would you be able to give us some space" I heard the Fairy Godmother say, and Evie proceeded to leave the room, leaving just me and the Fairy Godmother. "Ben, tell me what's happened, and how you are feeling" she spoke calmly but fairly. I explained to her what had happened, and how I felt, and she just sat there, and listened. Similarly to Evie, she didn't say a word until the end.

"I think it's best for you to see the counsellor. What you're going through is rooted deeper than your break up with Carlos. You have been through a lot this year, and I feel like you need to share that with someone. I will set it up, so you have a meeting one a week, if that's what you want." She finished, whilst I continued to sob into her lap. I slowly nodded, not able to respond vocally to her, but I was grateful for what she had done.

She waited outside of the room whilst I got changed, and escorted me to my first counselling session.

* * *

 **So I hope you enjoyed that. I've seen a lot of Fan fiction's mention a brief break up between Ben and Carlos, but all of them are pretty much resolved within a few days. I wanted this one to take a different tone, and wanted to explore that idea fully.**

 **Remember that this is a sequel to Once a Prince, meaning that so far this year, Ben has killed someone, been sent to the Isle and disowned by his parents. He was then beaten up and placed under a curse. So yeah, he's experienced at lot. Keep that in mind for the next few chapters.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and leave a review, letting me know how you think the story is going to continue. I'll see you next Thursday :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi Guys, and welcome back to the third chapter of Now the Commoner. I'd just like to say thank you to those who are following and have added the story to their favourites, it's nice to know people are actually interested in this, and you're the reason I keep updating it every week.**

 **Anyway, I had completed another story about Ben and Carlos. It's the typical the VK's come to Auradon, but I'd be happy to share it if you wanted me to. I'm probably upload that one on a Monday, so it gives you two stories each week. Leave a review, or send me a PM if you wanted to see it.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and I'll see you at the end. Oh, and this chapter is where the time skips really come into play :)**

 **Trigger Warning-Mentions of Depression**

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Third Person POV:  
For the next two months, awkwardness ensued. Ben had moved out of his dorm with Carlos, and had moved in with Xander, which made matters so much worse. Carlos started off in a state of sadness, abut after a while, he was starting to get better. Not only was it awkward between Ben and Carlos, but it was also awkward for the whole friendship group. Everyone was on egg shells constantly, as they didn't know who to sit with, or what to say. Lonnie, Jane, Xander and Doug wanted to remain friends with both of them, but it was awkward to do so, so they didn't want to upset them both. If they sat with Carlos, then Ben would have no-one, and vice versa.

Both Ben and Carlos were too heartbroken to move on, and it had caused a serious impact on Ben and Xander's friendship as well. Xander felt responsible for what had happened, so he started to distance himself from Ben, mostly so Carlos didn't get any ideas. Suffice to say, at this point, Ben had dealt with so much that year that he broke.

Ben fell into depression. He kept to himself, and wouldn't speak to anyone unless he had to. He spent all his free time in his room, and continued to receive counselling from the school, and Carlos couldn't help but feel guilty. However, that was not his problem anymore. He had done what he thought was best for him.

November 30th-Ben's POV:  
It was lunch time in the school, so of course I was making my way to get some food. My plan was to grab the tray, then head back to my room and proceed to prepare until my next lesson. I was so broken over Carlos breaking up with me, and I couldn't face seeing anyone, and them asking how I was. Anyway, so I made my way into the cafeteria, and looked around, seeing if anyone was about.

Luckily they weren't, so I made my way to the queue. I looked down the whole time, not making eye contact with anyone, and started to fiddle with my sleeve due to nervousness. I got to the front of the queue, grabbed a tray of food, and started to make my way out of the cafeteria, still looking down at the floor.

However, that quickly changed when I accidentally walked into someone, spilling my food all over them. I looked up to see Audrey covered in my lunch, screaming about her outfit, and a rather angry Chad stood next to her, staring at me. "I-I-I'm s-s-s-so s-s-s-sorry" I stuttered, not quite sure how to react to the situation. I tried to hand Audrey my napkin, and in return, she snatched out of my hand, and just stared at me.

That's when Chad started to get all aggressive. I started to try and walk away from the situation, when Chad grabbed my wrist, shouting "Where do you think you're going huh?".

At this point I was freaking out. Everyone had stopped to stare at what was going on, and Chad was making a huge scene. I started to get really anxious, and tried to free my wrist, but was quickly met with failure. "I-I-I s-s-said I-I-I w-w-was s-s-sorry" I stuttered back, still looking down at the floor, avoiding all eye contact, which Chad quickly noticed.

"You are talking to a prince, and I expect you, out of everyone, to address me as such" he said, and I was so scared, that I was willing to comply with everything. "Y-Y-Yes Sir" I replied, slowly looking into his eyes. I was definitely crying by this point, and both he and Audrey had noticed.

"Aww, what happened to you Ben? You were once strong, and proud. Now you're just weak and pathetic" Audrey decided to chime in, holding my face in her hand. I tried to shake my head free, but Chad was quick to react. He threw me against the wall, causing me to fall to the floor, crying as I did so.

"Come on Ben, do something" he taunted, and I pulled myself off of the floor, and tried to walk away. Again, he grabbed my wrist but this time, he punched me around the face, causing some blood to pour out the side of the mouth. He grabbed me by the collar, and pulled me close to his face. "You're nothing. Remember that" he said, spitting on my face, before throwing me back onto the floor once again and walking away.

I shuffled my way across the floor to the wall, still crying my eyes out, before I heard a familiar voice speak up. "Ben, are you ok?" he asked, and I looked up to see Carlos stood over me, extending his arm out to help. I didn't say anything, I just pulled myself up of the floor, and just ran to my room.

The negative thoughts started to fill my head. _'Chad's right, you're worthless. No one cares out you. Your own parents disowned you, and then the only person that cared about you broke your heart. No one is there for you.'_ I thought to myself. I could hear Carlos shouting my name, chasing after me, but I continued to run to my room.

When I got to my room, I locked the door behind me, and curled up into a ball on the bed. I heard Carlos shouting through the door. "Ben, Ben, open up" he shouted, but I just continued to sob. I think he could hear me through the door. "Ben, come on. Let me help" he continued to shout.

I mustered up enough courage to shout back. "GO AWAY. I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP. JUST LEAVE ME ALONE" I shouted, still crying. He shouted once more. "Ben, please. Let me in" he said, and I had enough.

"GO AWAY" I shouted back, but he continued to persist. After about 5 minutes, he gave up. I heard him sigh as he walked away. From then on, I didn't really leave my room for food. I didn't want the confrontation with anyone else, so it was just easier this way.

Christmas Holiday- Ben's POV.  
I had been invited to spend the holiday at Xander's palace in Corona, and at first I'd decided against it. Whilst I was grateful of his offer, I decided it was best if I didn't go to his house over the holidays. If I had any chance of getting back with Carlos, now would be the time to do it. The pair of us didn't have anywhere to go over the holidays, so we would be forced to stay at the school. The three week break was enough time for me to explain what had happened, and hopefully get back with him. Well, at least that's what I thought.

On the first day of the holiday, I saw Carlos and Evie walking towards the exit of the school with their bags packed. I was curious where they were going, so I approached them wanting to ask. Carlos instantly spotted me, and continued to walk towards the exit of the school, whilst Evie stopped, and allowed me to speak to her. "Where are you going? I thought you were spending the holiday at the school" I asked, with a hint of sadness in my voice.

"We were invited to spend the holiday with the Fairy Godmother, and accepted. Why? Are you staying here? We were told you were staying with Xander, which is why we agreed to it." She said, with a hint of resentment in her voice.

I shook my head. "No, I turned down Xander, as I didn't want to leave you guys" I had started to cry by this point, but she didn't say anything.

"Well, hopefully it's not too late to change your mind" she said, before beginning to walk off. Before she got too far, I grabbed her wrist, causing her to turn back to me.

"W-W-Would you be able to give this to C-C-Carlos for me on C-C-Christmas Day? It was his p-p-p-present for his b-b-birthday, but I didn't get the chance to give it to him." She nodded, and took the wrapped gift off of me, before pulling me into a hug, and wishing me a Merry Christmas. I could see Carlos stood by the car waiting, but he would refuse to make eye contact with me.

I tried to wave it him, but he just ignored me, and got into the back of the car. I sobbed all the way back to my room, where Xander was still packing his stuff. I told him what had happened, and he still allowed me to go with him to Corona for the holidays. I have to admit, I said yes with a little bit of resentment, as I knew this would only make the situation between us way worse.

Christmas Day-9:30am, Carlos POV,  
Christmas morning had to be by far the best thing I had ever experienced in my life. On the Isle, Christmas was never celebrated, but in Auradon, it was such a huge event. We spent the first week of the holiday decorating Fairy Godmother's and Jane's house with all sorts of things. There was tinsel lining the entire house, and flashing lights were placed outside. They had placed a massive tree in the living room, and decorated it with everything. Tinsel, little hanging ornaments, and we placed a star at the top of the tree. Anyway, back to this morning.

I woke up, and ran downstairs to see Jane, FG and Evie sat on the sofa. It seems like they had been waiting for me to come down before they opened their presents. Jane had a massive pile of stuff, whilst Evie and I had about 6 presents each. Considering who we were, it was more than we had expected.

The Fairy Godmother had got us some bits, as well as Belle, and our friends at school. Belle had gotten me a new laptop that I was looking at for so long, whilst they had bought Evie the state of the art sewing machine. Jane had gotten the both of us a massive group photo with all our friends in. When I looked at the photo, I could see that the person next to me had been cropped out, whereas on Evie's, Ben was still there. I just chuckled to myself slightly. I was feeling better about my breakup with Ben. It had been a few months since it had happened, so I had started to get over him.

Well, I thought I had, before Evie handed me a small box. Jane and Fairy Godmother had no clue what it was. I opened it up, to see a small note on a box. I read the note, and started to tear up as I did so. The note read:

 _To Carlos,_

 _I wanted to give you this on your birthday, before everything happened. I'm so sorry that I left you on the day, and I hope this gift explains why I did. I was hoping we could at least be friends in the future._

 _Ben xx_

At this point, tears were rolling down my face. I opened the box, and immediately closed it again, after I saw what it was. Evie had pulled me into a hug, whilst Jane and Fairy Godmother moved to sit behind me, and were reading the note. With those three around me, I opened the box again, and pulled out the gift.

It was a paw print necklace, with a red jewel in the middle of it. Each of the toes contained a different letter. The first one was a B, the next one contained a love heart, the third had C, and the last one contained an x for a kiss. "This is why Ben went out on my birthday. He wanted to buy me a present." I cried, holding the necklace close to my heart.

By this point, the whole room was filled with an awkward tone. Christmas was supposed to be a day of happiness and joy, but instead an old wound had just been reopened. The three girls comforted me, before we went to breakfast. I placed the necklace back in the box, and put it on the side. Although it meant a lot to me, Ben and I had broken up, so I couldn't exactly wear it.

Breakfast was fantastic, and slightly helped me recover from Ben's gift. Well, that was until Fairy Godmother made an announcement. "We have been invited to Rapunzel's palace for Christmas dinner, and I accepted on behalf of all of us. Carlos, Evie, I hope you packed a smart outfit", and we both nodded.

That's when Evie chimed in. "Do you think it's wise for Carlos to attend. You know, since Ben is staying there over the holidays" and that caused me to tense up massively.

"I'll be alright" I spoke up, trying to remain strong. "I have some things to discuss with Ben anyway. It might be nice to clear the air", and everyone agreed. We finished breakfast, and made our way upstairs to get ready. Luckily, I got the room with the en suite, so was able to get ready in peace.

I put on my usual suit, and whilst I was waiting for everyone else, I decided to set up my new laptop. It was absolutely brilliant, it was fast and really sleek. After about an hour, the girls had finally finished getting ready, so we began our journey to Corona. Before we left, I put the necklace in my jacket pocket.

The journey took about an hour or two, but when we made it to Corona, it was beautiful. The town felt rustic, yet it had all the modern technology so it wasn't outdated. We made our way to the Palace, and were greeted by King Eugene, and Queen Rapunzel. Both Evie and I bowed, whilst Jane and Fairy Godmother just laughed. "You don't need to bow to us" Rapunzel said, before pulling us into a large hug.

"Welcome to Corona" King Eugene said, whilst hugging the Fairy Godmother. I went to give him a firm handshake, but he just bro-hugged me. What I hadn't realised was that Ben and Xander were stood behind them. Well, that was until Xander started to speak. "Jane, Fairy Godmother, Evie, Carlos so good to see you" he said, walking towards us.

Ben followed his lead, hugging everyone, but he just nodded his head at me. Before any more awkwardness could ensue, we were ushered inside. "You must be hungry after your journey" Rapunzel began, "Good thing we prepared lots of food." She chuckled as we walked into the dining room. There were hundreds of plates, each filled with different dishes. Everyone started to take their seats, and it ended up, almost like it was planned, that I was sat next to Ben. _'This is so awkward'_ I thought to myself, as I was twiddling my thumbs under the table.

After about 5 more minutes of chatting, everyone else started to dig in, whilst Evie and I just sat there, staring at all of the food. What I hadn't realised is that Ben had started to load up a plate for me. He placed it in front of me and said "H-H-H-Here, you'll like these." he finished with a nervous chuckle.

Ben's POV  
Lunch proceeded to be as awkward as ever. Without even realising it, I had automatically served Carlos some food, as if we were dating. I tried to play it off as cool, but I don't think it worked too well. I just didn't know what to do for the whole time. Whilst I wanted to be with Carlos, at the same time I didn't. He had broken my heart, and I couldn't forgive him for that. Oh, who was I kidding, I would forgive him even if he had done it 20 times, hell 100 times.

We just sat next to each other, in silence for the whole of lunch. We didn't even share one conversation. Someone would ask Carlos a question, and I would remain completely silent, then someone would ask me a question, and he would do the same. After a while, the pressure got too much for me, so I asked to be excused from the table. I had told them I needed to use the toilet, whereas in reality I just wanted to cry for the next 10 minutes.

I got up and left the table, making my way towards my bedroom. I got about half way down the corridor, when I heard someone shout my name. I turned around to see it was Evie. I turned to her, tears streaming down my face, and just let all of my emotions out. "I can't do this Evie, I love him, and he won't even speak to me. How am I supposed to heal the relationship if he won't even speak to me?" I sobbed to her.

"Shhh, it'll be ok Ben" she responded, trying to help me recover, but it wasn't working.

"I can't live like this Evie. Not with this awkwardness between us. I want to be with him, but if he doesn't want me then I'll never be able to recover." By this point, I was full on sobbing. I had slid down the wall, and was just sat on the floor, crying into my hands.

She said to me, "Just go to your room, and spend the rest of the day chilling out. I'll come see you before we leave to check up on you. I'll just tell everyone that you're not feeling too well. They'll understand" I agreed, and she helped me towards my room. I just fell on top of the bed, and cried for the next few hours. I couldn't cope with what was happening.

After about 3 hours, I heard a knock at the door. Expecting it was Evie, I yelled "Come in," but instead I was met with my white-haired heart breaker. "C-C-Carlos, w-w-what are you d-d-doing here" I sobbed, as he approached me on the bed. I saw him pull out the necklace I got him for his birthday, and he placed it on the bedside table.

"I can't keep this Ben. It was a nice gift, but it's too much for me. It will only remind me of you, and I don't need that. I loved you Ben, but I need some more time to think. For now, we can just be friends, but nothing more" He finished and then left my room. I just fell deeper into a sob, falling into a well of depression. Minutes later, Evie came in and said goodbye. I couldn't face them, not like this. That's when I heard Xander enter the room. He came and sat beside me on the bed, comforting me like Evie had done earlier.

"Don't worry Ben, it'll be alright" he said, as I sat up in the bed. For some reason, he just looked so attractive, and before I knew it, I had pulled him into a kiss. It felt so good, so riveting. What didn't help is that he pushed deeper into the kiss, before pulling out. "Ben, we can't do this. We can't happen"

"Why not!" I begged. "Xander, you have been the one with me through all of this, the only one that's actually cared about me!"

"Ben, I can't take advantage of you, whilst you're in this state. You're grieving about your breakup, and sleeping with me will only make you feel worse." He soon got off of the bed, and stepped towards the door.

"Xander please! Don't leave me too" I shouted as he left the room. My entire life was crumbling around me, and I was hopeless to stop it.

I needed to get out, and get some fresh air, so I got changed, and made my way out of town. I changed into a wolf, and just ran, and ran and ran. I spotted a deer in the distance, and got this overwhelming feeling to chase and kill it. But I managed to suppress the feeling. Well, I still chased it, I just didn't kill it. I must have spent at least 3 hours in the forest, before it started to get dark. Most of it was either me chasing some random animal, or whimpering as I walked around.

I made my way back to the castle, to find that everyone was looking for me. "Ben!" Rapunzel screamed, running towards me, "You've got a visitor! We've been looking for you all day." She said in a concerned tone.

"S-S-Sorry, I went out" I chuckled to myself. I was led to a small room, and I did not expect who I saw. "You're Majesty" I said, bowing down to the queen in front of me.

"You may rise" she said, chuckling to herself. She pulled me into a hug, and wished me a merry Christmas. I just looked at her, and broke down. She pulled me deeper into the hug, asking what had happened. I explained the whole situation, including what I had done to Xander. He was right, it only made me feel worse.

She provided a sympathetic ear the whole time, whilst also stating her own viewpoint, helping me see what was happening from both sides. "In the end Ben, if you love Carlos, and he loves you, then you will end up together." She spoke softly, but I asked her a difficult question.

"What if he doesn't love me?" I said, sobbing into her arms, but she was quick to respond. "Ben, Carlos loves you. He wouldn't have spent all that time trying to save you from the curse if he didn't love you. He is your true love, and maybe he needs time to see that. From what you've said, it sounds like Carlos was jealous of you and Xander. He would only be jealous if he loves you." Maybe she was right, and he just needed time to see that.

"But, you can't push it. Carlos needs to realise this for himself." Again, she was right but to be perfectly honestly it didn't make me feel any better. Negatives thoughts began to fill my head again. _'She's wrong, he doesn't love you. Otherwise he would have kept the necklace. Just give up now, what's the point anymore. No one actually cares for you. Everything is done because they feel bad for you. They don't care, you're a burden on them.'_ I thought to myself, but I pretended to smile to her, making her feel better.

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 **Ok, so that was definitely a different chapter than usual, but I hope you enjoyed it none the less. And I'll see you next Thursday for Chapter 4 :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi Guys, and welcome back to the fourth Chapter of Now the Commoner. I would like to thank everyone who left a review on WILTW, it honestly made my day, and I was so happy to see people enjoyed it. I will be reply to those comments on Chapter 2 of WILTW, but I just wanted to say thanks now. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I'll see you later.**

 **Again, there are mentions of depression.**

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Third POV:  
When school began in January, the gang was back together. Carlos had finally gotten over Ben, whilst Ben was not so lucky. Evie and Doug had started to flirt with each other, and everyone was happy for them. Ben and Xander had remained best friends, even after what had happened. They had spent the whole Christmas Holiday together, but Ben stayed really reserved. In all fairness, he had gotten worse over the holiday. With Carlos' second rejection of him, Ben wasn't taking it the best. More and more negative thoughts filled Ben's mind, and at one point, he took a pretty drastic action.

Carlos, however was recovering. He had started to talk to someone in his geography class. His name was Aaron, and he was Ariel's son. You couldn't tell however, as he had black hair, following Eric, rather than Ariel's red hair, but he definitely inherited the singing voice. All the gang, except Ben, continued to sit together, but every now and again, Carlos would disappear, and no one would know where as Carlos hadn't told anyone about Aaron. This pretty much continued until Valentine's Day, when Evie decided to host a party. The school had allowed her onto the committee, and everyone fell in love (ha-ha) with the idea of having a ball to celebrate it. Valentine's Day was a national holiday in Auradon, as it represented everything they loved, love.

14th February-Carlos POV:  
I was in my dorm room, completing my geography homework, when I heard someone knock on the door. I had an idea of who it was, but I didn't want to assume, so I shouted "It's Open", and as I expected Aaron walked in. He pulled a box of chocolates from behind him, and said "Carlos, I was wondering. Would you be my date to the dance tonight? I know we aren't officially dating, but I was wondering if you wanted to join me in a dance."

I ran up to him and pulled him into a deep hug. "Chocolate, and a romantic proposal, how could I say no" I replied to him, before taking the box of chocolates out of his hands, and digging in. "Oh, they weren't for you" he said in a jokey tone, as I passed the chocolates over to him, allowing him to have a few.

Ben's POV:  
Whilst sat in my room, I felt two hands grab hold of my shoulders, and shout "Boo!" I screamed and collapsed on to the floor, to see Xander above me clutching his stomach in laughter. "Not Cool" I said to him, pouting and pulling myself off of the floor.

"Aww, come on." He replied, before posing a really difficult question "Ben, are you going to the dance tonight? I thought it would be nice for all of us to get together, and hang out" he said, smiling.

I however wore the most scared look on my face. "I was gonna stay in tonight. I don't really feel like g-g-going" I responded, and I could see he was annoyed by my response.

"Come on Ben, it'll be fun. We can have a dance, or two and enjoy ourselves. Please Ben, for me?" Xander replied.

"D-D-Dance, in front of all those people. I c-c-cant. What if I trip, and look stupid. What if I spill my drink over someone. It's t-t-t-too much pressure" I panicked to him, breaking down once again. Xander pulled me into a hug, and started to comfort me. "It'll be ok. I'll be with you the whole time. Just come, and if you don't want to dance, you don't have too. But, at least come and spend some time with your friends. They miss you Ben." he said and I nodded into his chest, still freaking out about tonight. So many things could go wrong, and knowing me, they probably would.

7:30pm-Start of the Ball:  
I walked in with Xander, and everyone was having a good time. Evie had pulled through as always, and the place looked fantastic. There was pink mood lighting, with love hearts everywhere. And I mean everywhere. All the balloons were shaped like love hearts, there were love heart decorations on the tables, god even the punch bowl was love heart shaped. We walked over, and grabbed ourselves a drink, before meeting up with Evie. "E-E-Evie, this place looks a-a-amazing. I can't believe you've done all this" I exclaimed, gesturing to the room around us.

"Aww, thanks Ben. Hey, if you stick around at the end, some of us are getting together for a little after party" she said, winking, and I knew what she meant. Evie was 18 by this point, so she had obviously managed to score some alcohol for us all. Unfortunately, my birthday was still a month away so whilst I wasn't legally allowed to drink, let's just say the isle taught me a few things. But once again, my awkwardness got the better of me."T-T-Thank you E-Evie, but I think I'm just gonna go back to my room. I d-don't want to be a b-bother" I replied to her, trying to get out of it.

She pulled me into another hug and said "Ben, you're not a bother. Please come. No-one has seen you recently, and we all want to make sure you're ok." Similar to Xander, I just nodded into her chest, not actually saying anything. We got chatting, and before long someone else had joined the conversation. And guess who. Carlos had walked over with his date. Aaron, I think his name was.

Evie was quick to jump into questioning him. "Carlos, who is this? Is this why you've been disappearing every now and again" she asked jokingly. Carlos blushed whilst the gentleman next to him spoke up.

"I'm only responsible for the few of those times." He joked, and Carlos spoke up "This is Aaron, Ariel's son" he introduced us to him. Evie just looked at Carlos and nodded, whist I just grunted under my breath. I think Xander could see how uncomfortable I was, so he excused the pair of us, and pulled me away from the conversation.

"Come on Ben, don't let him get you down. Besides, you've got me now" Xander joked, as he started to dance, whilst I just stood there, all uncomfortable. I calmed down a little bit, but I saw Jane and Lonnie join the three of them. They were all laughing and having a good time, whilst I was panicking at the side of the hall. I'm not gonna lie, I still missed Carlos. I was hoping that we could be spending Valentine's Day together, but instead we had come separately, and he even had a date! The night did pick up when I started to dance a little bit. Everyone came over and joined us, but I still felt massively uncomfortable.

I'd decided that I needed to go outside, and get some air. After all, I had been surrounded by people for about 3 hours at this point, and I needed some space. I walked outside, and was checking my phone, not really knowing where I was going. I accidentally walked into someone, who looked like they were doing the same as me. I looked up, to see that I had accidentally pushed Carlos to the floor.

"Watch were you're going will you" He said, before looking up, and realising that it was me.

"Oh, god C-C-Carlos, I'm so s-s-sorry. Here let me help you up" I said, extending my arm, but instead he just pulled himself off the floor refusing my help. A moment of awkwardness fell between us, before he said. "I've got to get back. Evie's waiting for. I'll see you around Ben", walking away.

Before he could leave, I said, "H-H-Happy Valentine's Day Carlos. I wish you the best in life, and I hope you are with someone that makes you happy." By this point, I was welling up, and I think he saw that. He didn't even respond to what I said, he just ran away. I walked over to one of the benches, and started to stare at photos on my phone of the two of us. This was when I was at my happiest, and now I was just miserable.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I looked up to see Lonnie. _'This is not going to end well'_ I thought, as my phone showed us a photo of Carlos and me. She sat next to me, and began to speak.

"Ben, you need to move on. You and Carlos had your time together, and no matter how great it was, it's over now." She took hold of my phone, and started to scroll through all of the photos. There was picture after picture of Carlos and I. "Ben, you broke up four months ago. Maybe you should delete the photos" But before she could continue, I spoke up.

"I love him Lonnie, no matter how long it's been. I can't delete these photos, it all I have left of us" I replied crying into her arms.

"Ben, if you truly love him, then all you'll want is for him to be happy. Ben, he is happy. You need to move on yourself." She replied.

"Ok, ok. I'll delete them tomorrow" I said to her but I was completely lying. Instead I would just move them onto my laptop. She helped me tidy myself back up, and we went back onto the dance floor. We walked past Carlos and Aaron, and I could see the smile on his face. _'He truly is happy'_ I thought to myself was we walked past.

We met back up with Xander and Jane, and proceeded to watch them dance for the rest of the evening, whilst I just stood at the side. I had started to cheer up, and that's when the bell went, signalling midnight. Everyone cheered, before making their way out of the hall, and back to their dorms. Luckily, it was a Friday night, so we didn't need to worry about going to school in the morning.

Xander, Lonnie, Jane and I met up with Evie, Doug, Carlos and Aaron, and we made our way into the forest, to enjoy our after party. We started to play a spin the bottle, which everyone else was enjoying, whilst I just stared at the floor. Well, it was until Evie spun the bottle. She said "Ben, whoever this bottle lands on, I want you to make out with" I hardly had a chance to agree before the bottle stopped and almost by magic, the bottle landed on a rather embarrassed Carlos.

Everyone just exchanged looks with each other, and I spoke up. "Let's just move on…" but before I could continue Carlos spoke up. "I mean, it's only a game. I mean if you don't want to then"

"No, I want to" I quickly responded, then blushed massively. "I'm sorry, I have to go. T-T-Thank you Evie, for a g-g-great night" I said, before walking away from the group, starting to cry as I did so.

Carlos POV:  
I saw Ben get all tearful, and when he got up, I decided to go after him. We needed to talk about us, especially after what he said during the dance. "Ben" I shouted, but he just continued to walk away. "BEN" I shouted once more, before he stopped and looked at me, obviously crying. When I finally reached him, I went to speak, but ended up speaking over him. I went to say something again, but the same happened. Finally, he breathed in and spoke up.

"Carlos, I can't do this. I can't just be friends with you. It's just too much. Honestly, I want you to be happy, so I suppose I'll see you around" he said, before walking away from me once more. I quickly grabbed hold of his wrist, and stared into his eyes. I went to say something to him, but he pulled away, and said "Y-Y-You better get back, your b-b-boyfriend is waiting for you" causing me to let go of his arm, allowing him to finally walk away. Tears fled to my eyes, as I saw Ben walk away from me, but I knew he was right. I was with Aaron now, and that's all that mattered.

March 13th -Ben's POV  
I woke up this morning, excited and disheartened at the same time. It was my 18th birthday, and that meant two things. I was finally classed as an adult, and do what I wanted, which is why I was excited. But at the same time, it marked a year since the incident first occurred. Luckily it was a Monday, so I would be spending most of my day in lessons, which meant I wouldn't have a lot of free time to see my friends.

Today wasn't a day a really wanted to celebrate, especially after what it represented. I looked over at Xander's bed to see that he was still sleeping, so I quietly got up and showered. By this point it was only 6:30am in the morning, so I had some time to kill. I made my way out to the forest behind the school, and decided to go for a little walk. I needed some time to think, and some time to reflect. I made my way through the forest, until I walked into the clearing with the little river running through it. The place where I first met Xander.

I pulled out my timetable to see what lessons I had that day. This morning I had Literature, which was nice, as it was one of my options, followed by PE, which was horrible, as I shared the class with Carlos and Aaron. I also saw that I had an appointment with the counsellor last, instead of a free period. To be perfect honestly, I had been in counselling since the Carlos and I had broken up, and to some extent it was helping. The only problem was, I kept seeing Carlos around school. I'd tried to move on, but seeing him every single day did not help.

I was still completely heart broken, and this was 6 months on. My birthday only made it worse. The first time I met Carlos was when I was sent to the Isle, which was a year tomorrow, and I couldn't get that thought out of my mind. I just cried for a solid half an hour whilst in the clearing. It finally reached 7:15, and I'd decided to make my way back to the school as the cafeteria would have just opened.

I got there to find that it was completely empty. I knew it was early in the morning, but I assumed that at least some people would be here. I walked up, and started to grab myself some food. At this point, a few people had filtered into the room, but no one of importance to me. And to be fair, I preferred it that way. I just wanted to spend the day alone. I ate my breakfast, before heading to my first lesson of the day.

At the end of my literature lesson, the teacher pulled me to one side. She asked what was up, but I just played it off, saying I was just a little tired but I was welling up as I did so. PE followed with the same amount of success. I asked the coach if I could sit on the bench for most of the lesson, as 'I didn't feel too good'. It didn't help that Carlos and Aaron were in my lesson, and spent most of the period messing about with each other. I sighed whilst thinking about when we used to do the same.

This caused me to break down, but I quickly ran into the changing rooms before anyone could notice. The coach followed me in, and I asked him if I could be excused from the lesson. After seeing the state I was in, he agreed, and I made my way back to the room crying once again. I spent the next hour and a bit finishing up some other school work. The bell finally rang, signalling that lunch was beginning. I made my way to the cafeteria, and planned to just grabbed some food, before making my way back to my dorm trying to avoid all my friends.

As I walking out of the cafeteria, I saw Carlos come running toward me. I didn't want to assume anything, so I just continued to look at the floor, and make my way back to my room. Carlos finally reached me, and he said "Happy Birthday Ben" handing me a gift. I took the gift, and thanked him, before opening it. It was a signed copy of my favourite book, The Princess Bride. Inside, the author had signed ' _Happy Birthday Ben. I hope you have a great day'_ and Carlos piped up, "I remembered it was your favourite book, so I figured I get a signed copy for you" I tried to remain strong, whilst saying to Carlos.

"T-T-Thank you, but I can't accept this" handing him back the book, before trying walking away.

"Ben, what's wrong. Don't you like it?" he asked, and I responded to him saying, "No, it's perfect, which is why I don't deserve it"

He responded "Ben, come on. I'm trying to be nice. Please just take the gift." And that's when I snapped back at him.

"If you can refuse my gift. T-Then I can refuse yours. Now, if you'll excuse me, I don't want to be late for counselling," I snapped, walking away from him tears welling up in eyes. I still had about 20 minutes of break to kill before my session, but I couldn't bear to see Carlos any more. I ran into Evie on my way back to my room but before she could say anything, I ran away even faster. By this point, she knew I wouldn't open up about anything, so she just left me to it.

Lunch passed with me crying into my food, before I made my way to the counsellor's office. I walked in, to find that Belle was sat on the couch, waiting for me. "Ben! Happy Birthday" she exclaimed when I walked in, and I just broke down crying once again. This must have been the fourth or fifth time I had done so today. I explained to the counsellor and her what I was feeling, and how I had spent most of the day alone. I then explained what had happened between Carlos and me, and how I refused his gift.

The counsellor finally chimed in. "Ben, by spending the day alone, you've made the situation worse. You've been surrounded by nothing but your negative thoughts all day, which is why you are so upset. As for Carlos, like he said, he was only trying to be kind, and you have ended up distancing yourself further from him." She sighed, before continuing to speak "I've been thinking about this for a while, but I've never wanted to mention it."

I looked up at her curious about what she would say next. "Maybe it would be best for you to transfer schools. It would remove you from this awkward environment, and place you into one where you could make new friends, and new memories. I know it wouldn't be for long, but it might be what you need. I have spoken to a school in Sherwood Forest who would be willing to take you. But I don't want to pressure you into anything. Do what's best for you" she said, as Belle took my hand into hers.

I looked up at her, and nodded. "Thank you. I think it would be best." I said, before she continued, "It wouldn't affect any of your studies, I've already arranged that for you, and there has been a dorm room on hold. Don't worry, you wouldn't be sharing with anyone. The school up there are aware of your situation, and are willing to provide any support they can. If one day you don't want to get out of bed, the teacher will come and see you in the dorm, so you can continue your studies."

"When am I moving?" was all I could ask. I was excited about this new opportunity, but also sceptical.

"You can move in as soon as Wednesday if you like" she responded and I nodded. "Thank you, Thank you so much." I repeated again.

"No worries. I will continue to visit you regularly, but that school also has counsellors on hand if you ever want to talk to someone. I will inform the Fairy Godmother of your choice, so you don't need to worry about that." she finished, ending the counselling session for the day.

I went back to my dorm room that day, and began to pack my things. Tomorrow I would be travelling up to the school, and settling in, for when my classes started on Wednesday. Belle had offered to drive me up, and had given me a place to stay for tonight. Within an hour, I was packed, and had left Auradon Prep, for what I hoped was the last time. I hadn't told anyone where I was going, as I didn't want to face any difficult goodbyes.

Xander's POV:  
After a long day of school I'd decided to head back to the dorm. After all, it was Ben's birthday, and no one had seen him all day. I walked into the room, expecting to see him say at his desk or laid on his bed, but instead his side of the room was completely empty. I looked around to see if I could find a note, or anything explaining what had gone on, but there was nothing.

I texted my friends, asking where they were, and luckily, they were all sat together outside so I could tell them all at once. "Guys, all of Ben's stuff is gone from the room. Does anyone know what's happened?" I asked, rather worried and everyone shook their heads.

We headed for the Fairy Godmother's office, and she was shocked when we asked. "Wait, he didn't tell you?" and we all just looked at her. "Ben has transferred to the school in Sherwood Forest. He decided earlier today. I'm surprised he didn't tell you." she responded, and everyone gasped slightly. We all left her office, with a look of confusion on their faces. "Why on earth would Ben move schools" was the most asked question. We all texted him, demanding to know what was going on, but none of us got a response.

Third Person POV:  
Ben settled in quite nicely on the Wednesday. He met a small group of people in his Literature class, and soon became friends with them, however, he still spent most of his free time in his room. He decided it was time to delete the photos of him and Carlos off of his laptop, but he was still broken by everything.

Both school were now getting ready for the approaching exam season. Tensions were running high, as everyone was getting stressed about what to study and how to do it. Auradon Prep had decided to schedule a tourney game against Sherwood Forest, to try and take everyone's minds off of the exams, but it only made Ben more stressed. The game was being held at Auradon Prep, and it was expected of them to travel down and support the team.

The counsellors had spoken to him about this, and at the time he had stated that we could be ok. But the game was approaching, and Ben was nervous about seeing his old friends, and Carlos.

Tourney Game Ben's POV:  
We arrived at Auradon Prep on the coaches, and I was overwhelmed with the feeling of fear. Luckily no one was about, as they were already on the tourney field. I made my way up the bleachers, and managed to hide myself at the back of the stand. I could barely see the tourney game, but at the same time, I could barely be seen. I had brought my tablet with me, so I was able to read a few books and listen to some music to calm myself down during the match.

The match started as usual, and I could see everyone was getting excited. Tourney used to be my favourite sport, but now I wasn't really into it. When I arrived at the Sherwood Forest school, they offered me a spot on the team, but I turned it down. It was too much pressure, ' _What if I was crap, and couldn't score? What if I tripped my own team mate over? What if I scored into the wrong goal?'_ were the thoughts I experienced.

Anyway, I could see Evie, Jane and Lonnie in the other bleachers, which meant that they could probably see me. I tried to hide as best as possible, and didn't make eye contact with anyone.

About half way through the match, I needed to use the toilet, so I made my way into the school. When I was exiting the toilet, I ran into the Fairy Godmother, who was beyond excited to see me. I was furious. I was hoping to avoid everyone entirely. "Ben! It's so good to see you" she exclaimed, pulling me into a hug.

"Likewise, but if you don't mind, I want to return to the game now" I said, trying to get out of this awkward situation. "Sure, I'll walk you" she said, and I just rolled my eyes. I was hoping to get away from her, but instead I faced an awkward walk, where she kept asking questions after questions. I just gritted through it, answering them, until she said "Wait here, I'm sure everyone would like to catch up with you" gesturing to the rest of the gang.

"No, its fine honestly, I don't want to be a nuisance" I said, trying to be as polite as possible, but she kept pushing."Nonsense, I'm sure they would all love to see you"

I kept trying to protest, but she kept refusing, and that's when I started to hyperventilate. I could feel myself getting all sweaty, and I started to tremble, feeling nauseous. The Fairy Godmother noticed, and asked if I was alright but I shook my head. "I think you're having a panic attack. Here let me help you." She said, as she led to me to the infirmary. She helped me with some breathing exercises, and after about 10 minutes, I started to calm down.

"Ben, I'm sorry for putting pressure on you. If you don't want to see your friends, you don't have to" she finally said, with a tone of disappointment in her voice. "Thank you. Now if you don't mind, I would like to get back to the game" I said, rather short I might add. "Of course, take care Ben" she finished, as I left the infirmary.

I made my way back to the tourney field, and sat at the back once again. I had noticed that Carlos was now playing, so I tried to focus my attention on my books and music. Luckily enough, I managed to, and missed the winning goal. Like every other time, the Auradon Knights won, and I was kinda happy they did.

Third Person POV:  
Exam season was finally upon everyone, and everyone managed to cope quite well. Ben came out most of his exams feeling confident, as did Carlos, Evie, Jane and Lonnie. Ben had to face 10 exams, but was the first to finish out of the lot. Of course he didn't know what, but it meant that he had the longest break. Belle had gifted him some money, and he was able to travel over the holidays, exploring every single one of the Kingdoms. Whilst he had done it when we was training to be king, this time he was able to experience real life. He wasn't staying in the palaces, being treated to the best foods, but instead he was living like everyone else, staying in hotels, and eating anything he could afford.

Carlos and Evie spent their summer travelling a bit as well. They stayed at Fairy Godmothers for a few weeks, before going to visit Lonnie in Northern Wei. Luckily, they both had gotten into Uni and were allowed to move into their dorms early.

That was great for a while, until the first day of Uni started.

* * *

 **Well, I hope you enjoyed that chapter, and I've left it on a cliff hanger for you all. Let me know what you think is going to happen when university starts, and I'll see you guys on Monday for part 2 of WILTW :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Good Morning! Well, it's morning for me. 7:43am to be exact. Ayway welcome back to Chapter 5 of Now the Commoner. This chapter is quite an interesting one, and I had some fun while writing it. Well, apart from one section, but you'll see what I mean. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.**

 **Brief Mentions of Suicide.**

* * *

Ben's POV-September 15th  
Today was my first day at the University of Auradon. I'd decided after mass contemplation to carry on with my education and I chose to study literature as I had fallen in love with it during school. I'd always loved reading, even when I was young, and now I was older, I could appreciate what the author was trying to say. I had been told that I was moving into the dorms with someone else, but who that other person was, I did not know.

Whilst I was away from the summer, I was able to make progress with my depression, and was finally feeling confident in myself, well more than I was. I still hadn't returned to my old self, but I think that part of me was lost. I would have to accept that I was different now. I bit more reserved and introverted than I used to be. But it was who is was now, and people needed to accept that.

Graciously, Belle had offered to help me move in. Even though, she wasn't technically my mother legally, she was still the mother figure in my life, and no one would question her on it, as she was the queen. She drove me to the uni, and offered to take some of my bags. "Thank you, but I think its best I show up alone. We don't my roommate to get any ideas" I said, causing her to chuckle. I have her a big hug, and she wished me the best. "Keep in touch, and text if you need anything" I heard her shout, as I walked off. Everything was looking up, well that was until I opened the door.

I opened the door, ready to greet my new roommate. "Hi, I'm B…" I said, before looking up and seeing him. The devil, or De Vil, as some people would say. It just so happened that Carlos was my roommate. "Well, this is just great" I said sarcastically out loud, whilst moving all of my stuff into the room.

"Hello Ben" he said, with a groan to his voice. Clearly the pair of us where not happy to see each other.

"Which bed is yours?" I asked, trying to remain civil, and he pointed to the one on the right side of the room. I walked over to the other bed, and started to unpack all of my stuff. Most of it was clothes, and essential supplies, but what I didn't realise was that the necklace I tried to give Carlos on his 17th Birthday had dropped on the floor.

"Oh, here you dropped this" I said, reaching for it. I tried to stop him, but before I could, he had already grabbed it, and seen what it was. He just looked at me, whilst handing it back, and I broke down right in front of him.

"Well, this is just fucking great" I said, and he quickly responded "Yeah, this isn't ideal for me as well you know" and boy did I lay into him.

"Not ideal. NOT IDEAL. I have been receiving counselling for the past year because of you. I HAD TO MOVE SCHOOLS BECAUSE OF YOU. And this isn't ideal for you. I tried…" I began, before quickly realising what I was about to say."You tried what?" he asked, rather sharply.

"No, its fine. Don't worry about it." I replied, focusing on unpacking my stuff.

"Ben, tell me. What did you try?", and he was getting more aggravated. "No, honestly, nothing." And by this point, he shouted back at me. "No, it's obviously something. Ben, tell me. What did you try?" he pushed further, and I knew he wasn't going to give up. By this point, I had fully broken down, and was struggling to speak.

"I t-t-tried to k-k-kill m-m-myself" I mumbled, so quietly I was hoping he didn't hear me. "You what?" and it was clear that he did. "It was during the C-C-Christmas break, after you gave me the n-n-necklace back. I saw so upset, and everything was happening that I went and stole a load of alcohol from the kitchen. I just sat there all night d-d-drinking. Before I knew it, I woke up in h-h-hospital with a severe case of alcohol poisoning. I was very lucky someone found me when they did. The doctor said five more minutes, and I would have suffered b-b-brain damage" I admitted to him. "I'm sorry, I need some air" I said, running out of the room, holding my head in my hands.

I decided to go for a walk around the campus. I was still unfamiliar with it, so I just wanted to have a look around, and see where everything was. I walked on the main grassy area, and could hear someone shouting my name "Ben? Ben is that you" I heard her say, as she approached me, and to my astonishment, it was Evie.

"Yeah, it's me" I said, faking a smile. "It's been so long, how are you" she asked, and I continued my fake smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. I went travelling over the summer". I replied to her. "That sounds lovely, I bet you had a good time." And we got chatting for a bit.

Before long she asked "Oh, who's your roommate?" she and by this point, I couldn't keep up the ruse. I had stopped crying, but I instantly dropped the smile as well. "Carlos" I muttered, and she just gasped in shock.

"Oh Ben, I'm so sorry. I know it's been hard for you." She started to comfort me, but at this point, I just wanted to be alone.

"Anyway, I'll see you around Evie" I said, pulling out of her hug, and started to walk away.

It had got to about 8:30pm, and I'd decided I should probably get back to my room. I didn't want to let Carlos ruin University for me, and it was fresher's week after all. I walked into the room, so see Carlos and Aaron sat on the bed, snuggling into each other "Don't mind me, I just want a change of clothes" I said, walking over to my dresser, and pulling out some clothes. _'So there still together, that's 'nice''_ I thought to myself, as I got changed. Before I left I said "You two do know its fresher week right? Are you going out?" and Carlos chirped up.

"I'm still 17 remember, so I can't really enjoy it. But you go and have fun. Don't drink too much though" he finished, and I knew what that last sentence meant.

"I'll do what I want" I said, before closing the door behind me. I met up with Evie, Doug, Jane and Lonnie and we all had good night together. Evie kept getting text messages all night, so I can only assume that Carlos was trying to check up on me. It also got to the point when everyone stopped buying drinks, and every time I tried to carry on, someone would stop me.

I'd managed to convince everyone to go to a gay bar. With uni being my new start and all, I wanted to get myself back out there, and enjoy it. I'm not gonna lie, even if it was a one night stand, I just wanted to…enjoy myself. Let's see, the best way to put this is we got to the bar, and I managed to sneak a few more drinks, and a few shots. I got onto the dance floor and I met up with a nice lad. I woke up the next morning in his dorm, not knowing who he was, or where I was.

At this point, it was about 6:30 in the morning, so I had to try and sneak out of his room, and back to mine. I managed to put on some clothes, and sneak out of his alright, but getting back into mine was a problem. For one, I had just a massive headache that I couldn't really concentrate. It took me 5 minutes to unlock the door. Then when I walked in, the room was completely dark, so I managed to walk into my dresser. Let's just say it made a massive bang, and me shouting "Ahh fuck" probably didn't help.

Carlos and Aaron jumped up from the bed, and turned on the light, only to see me stood there in a very hungover state. As soon as they turned the light on, I bolted for the toilet before throwing up. I could hear Carlos and Aaron conferring, before hearing someone leave the room, I presume it was Aaron, as I saw Carlos enter the bathroom behind me, and was rubbing my back, as I continued to throw up in the toilet.

"It looks like you had fun last night" he remarked, and I just responded with "I couldn't tell you", before throwing up again. After about 10 minutes, I'd finally stopped throwing up, and made my way to my bed. Before I fell asleep, all I could say was "Thank you Carlos." Why I said it, I don't know and he was just as confused as me. I don't remember his response, as I think I had fallen asleep.

Carlos POV:  
Seeing Ben in this state almost made me feel like I wanted to protect him. He looks like he needed caring for, from someone who was willing to do anything. ' _No, Bad Carlos'_ I thought to myself, trying to remove the thoughts from my head. ' _You dumped Ben for a reason, and you have Aaron now. Aaron who doesn't want to do anything, but snuggle.'_ The betraying thoughts continued. In all fairness, it had been a while since I had done it. The last time was probably with Ben, a few days before my birthday. God, that was almost a year ago. In all fairness, Aaron and I had done stuff, well I had done stuff to him, but that's beside the point. And by the looks of Ben, he had got some action last night, although he probably doesn't remember who it was with.

Anyway, I still felt guilty about break up with him, I was the one that had put him in a downwards spiral. But I can't keep blaming myself. I was doing what was best for me, and I take first priority. ' _But was it best for me? Was I just so jealous, that I let it blind me?'_ I got up from the bed, and saw that the necklace was sat on Ben's dresser. I picked it up, and just looked at it. It was absolutely beautiful.

However, what I hadn't realised at the time was that the centre piece of the necklace slid apart, revealing a photo underneath. It was my favourite photo of us. He was kissing my cheek, and had my arm around his neck, with the biggest smile on my face. I could feel myself starting to well up, so I placed the necklace back on the dresser, and got back into bed. ' _Why do I do this to myself'_ I thought, before getting back to sleep.

Ben's POV-September 16th  
I woke up the next morning to see Carlos stood over me, with a bag of food. "Ben, I got you some breakfast" he said, as I sat up in my bed. Suffice to say, I still had a pounding headache, but at the moment, I didn't feel like I needed to throw up, so that's a start. "You know what they say, lots of grease is good for getting rid of hangovers" he chuckled. I took the bag from him, and started to dig it. He had gotten my favourite. A sausage and egg muffin, along with a hash brown.

"Carlos, thank you. But what exactly happened last night?" I said, rubbing my face due to the pain.

"Well, from what I've heard. You went out clubbing in the uni, until you convinced everyone to go to a gay bar. At this point, you were already drunk. Once in said bar, you had a few more drinks, met up with a guy, and within an hour, Evie, Doug, Jane and Lonnie had lost you. At about 6:45 this morning, you walked back into the room, before hitting your dresser, shouting "ahh fuck", and then threw up in the toilet for the following 10 minutes." The whole time he was explaining, I just shook my head.

Parts of the night came flooding back to me, like this morning. But I still had no clue who is mystery guy was. For some reason, I decided to say to Carlos. "Well, that would explain why I feel quite sore" before winking at him.

He just laughed and said "We've got a welcome talk this morning, are you gonna be up to it?" he asked, obviously concerned.

"Y-Yeah, I'll be fine. I just need a hoodie and some sunglasses" I replied, joining him in his laughter.

Then he asked a really cheeky question, "So, you bottomed last night? God, this must have been some guy." Luckily, he was still laughing, so I know he wasn't serious about the whole situation.

"Apparently so, but I could not for the life of me tell you who he was" still laughing with him. All he said was "Don't worry, Evie's on it. Now, you should probably get showered, we don't have long before the talk." I got showered, and put on some fresh clothes, before walking with Carlos towards the hall.

We met up with the rest of them outside, who kept asking me questions about the night. "Honestly guys, I cannot tell you what happened. You probably know more than I do" I said laughing as we entered the hall. The talk was as boring as ever. It was just a PowerPoint presentation about how great the uni is, and what to expect over the next week. You know, everything we knew already.

In all fairness, I had zoned out for most of it. I was either rubbing my forehead in pain, or trying to check my phone. The talk lasted for about an hour, before we were finally allowed to leave. We all filtered out of the hall, and the 7 of us, Carlos, Aaron, Evie, Doug, Lonnie, Jane and me, were just loitering about in the foyer. Well, we were deciding what to get for lunch. That's when I left someone tap me on the shoulder.

I turned around to see a dark-brown haired boy, with gorgeous brown eyes. He was about as tall as me, but definitely a better build. I think my eyes lit up as he chuckled to himself before he began. "Hey, you probably don't remember me, and let's just say that I had a hard time remembering you. But I'm James. We kinda err" and I got the gist of what he was trying to say.

"Hi, I'm B-B-Ben. Yeah, sorry about last night. Apparently I was kinda drunk." I replied, staring into his eyes.

"You weren't the only one, so don't worry about it." He said and we shared a chuckle, before he spoke up again. "This may be a bit forward, but take my phone number. Perhaps we could get a coffee or something sometime, if you want of course." He said, getting all flustered. I just started to stutter, and no actual words come out.

"He'd love too. He will text you with a time and place" I heard Evie say, whilst I just grabbed the phone number and pulled it into my chest. He chuckled and returned to his group of friends, whilst I panicked.

"I can't go on a date with him. What would be talk about? What would I say? What if I spill a drink down myself? I can't, I just can't" shaking my head as I said it. By this point, I had thought about everything that could go wrong. "What if he doesn't show up? What if he's running late and I leave? What if I go to the wrong place?" I started to hyperventilate, and have a panic attack. This wasn't the first time, so I knew what to do, but everyone else just freaked out. "

Ben, it'll be ok. Don't worry" I heard Lonnie say. "Yeah, you'll be fine" Doug chimed in. I think Evie was the only one that said something helpful. "Ben, come and take a seat" she said, her voice calm while gesturing to a nearby bench. "Only go if you want to. Or, ask to take someone with you, if that will help" She said, whilst helping me with some breathing exercises. I think this was the point everyone realised how different I was. I wasn't the Ben that attacked Mal because she kicked me, but I was the Ben that was too scared to even go on a date with someone.

"Ok, t-t-thank you E-E-Evie. I'm gonna go back to my dorm. I'll see you guys l-l-later" I said, before hugging Evie, saying goodbye to everyone and walking off. I needed some time alone to think, and calm down. Evie was right, if I didn't want to go on the date, then I didn't have to, or I could take someone with me, if he didn't mind of course. I got back to the room, and started to read some of my books. This always helped to calm me down.

Evie POV:  
Once Ben had left, we all decided where to go to lunch, and started to make our way to the restaurant. That's when I heard Lonnie pipe up. "I've never seen Ben like that before. He was so…scared of what might happen." Doug chimed in as well. "Yeah, it's a first for me too. He's never had a panic attack before."

And that's when Jane piped up. "Actually he has. Do you remember the day the Auradon Knights played the Sherwood Forest Falcons at the school?" she asked and everyone nodded. "Well, my mum said she saw Ben leaving the toilet. She said she kept asking him to come see us, and he kept making excuses. Well, eventually the pressure got to him, and he had a panic attack in front of her. She felt so bad when he did, as she was the one pushing him" Jane finished with a sigh.

I also decided to chime it. "It also happened when he first broke up with Carlos. I told him to take a shower, and he had one then. Luckily, we managed to calm him down, but it was quite worrying." We finally reached the restaurant, and Carlos was wearing a face of guilt the entire time. I decided to question him on it, I nudged him under the table, signalling him to follow me.

Once we were away from the table, I asked "What's up with you? It looks like you've done something you don't want to admit to," causing him to sigh. "No, it's nothing. It's not about me anyway." He replied.

"So, why do you look so down?" and I think it finally got to him.

"Ben told me…he tried to commit suicide during the Christmas break last year. But you can't tell anyone." He replied and I was completely stunned.

"Why did he tell you that? Carlos, that's not right for him to put that pressure on you" I stated, rather defensively.

"No, it's fine. It was my fault anyway. I was moaning about how we had to share a room, and he pointed out that it was worse for him. Anyway, I kept pressuring him to tell me, to the point where I shouted at him, and he finally told me." He stated. This was the first time I realise what Ben was actually going through.

He had by far had the worse year out of all of us, with the exile, and disowning, the curse, and I think his break up with Carlos just pushed him off the edge. No wonder he was so worried about this date. The group spent the rest of the day together, well expect for Ben. Everyone was texting him throughout the day, and he was ensuring is that he was ok, but we were all worried.

Ben's POV: 7:30pm  
I was sat at my desk, watching a few TV shows when Carlos entered the room, but I hadn't noticed. I had my headphones on so loud, I was completely immersed in what I was watching. Carlos had noticed this, and took it as an opportunity to frighten the life out of me. I felt two hands grab my shoulders, whilst he screamed "boo" into my ear. I screamed, and flinched. I took my headphones off, and turned around to see Carlos literally huddled over in laughter.

"You should have seen your face" he said, whilst I just stared at him. "Not cool" was all I could say, as I crossed my arms, and pouted at him. "Ahh, come on. It was slightly funny" he replied, but I didn't seem to think so. "Anyway, Evie is having a movie night in her dorm with a few drinks and that if you want to join us" he said, and I quickly declined his offer.

"Nah, I'm fine. I think I'm just gonna have an early night. But, thank you for the offer." I said, before turning back to my computer.

"Come on Ben, it'll be fun. It's just us lot, and you love movies." He pleaded, but I continued to refuse. "Ben, if it's about earlier, then don't worry, no one minds" and I was quick to respond. "No, it's not about early, I just not feeling up to it."

"Ben, please? Do it for me?" he finally said, and I snapped. "Carlos, I don't want to. Now go. I'm sure everyone is waiting for you, and you don't want to be late." Before he could respond, I put my headphones back on, hoping he would take a hint, and he did. I heard him leave, and continued to watch my TV show.

The problem is that it is still fresher's week, so I don't have any work to actually do. Well, that was alright until the uni actually started.

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 **So, I hope you enjoyed that chapter, even though it was a bit dark in some places. I personally enjoyed writing the scene between Ben and James, but who knows where that will go in the future. Oh wait, I do ;). See you guys on Monday for Chapter 4 of WILTW :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Another update for the story today, cause I wanted to. I felt like this chapter was a little short, so I thought I'd do two chapters this week and get it out of the way,start again with one next week. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.**

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September 25th-Ben's POV:  
Today was the first official day of university. I had my first lecture at 9:00am, yes I was that unlucky, and then had a group session at 12:00pm, until 1:00pm. I had a society meeting later, it was the LGBTQ+ group but other than that, my evening was completely free. In all fairness, I hadn't really made any friends during my first week of uni, and had failed to keep the ones I had. My roommate was Carlos, so we were kind of forced to be friends, but most of the time he was out with Aaron. Every time I was invited out, I refused, saying that I was busy, or wasn't feeling too well.

At one point, I was forced to spent time with them, as Carlos had invited them round to our room for a get together. Personally, I think it was to try and get me to spend more time with them all, but every conversation I entered was filled with awkwardness. I didn't really know what to talk about, and I have known most of these people for most of my life. They asked how travelling was, and I told them, but other than that, we didn't really have much to discuss. Everyone was worried that asking the wrong question might 'trigger me' as I heard someone say, so most conversation died down after a while.

Anyway, that was off topic. The point is that it was my first proper day at uni, and I was looking forward to it. When I got to the lecture, at 9:00am, it seemed like half the people didn't show up. As this was the first lecture of the subject, most of it was filled with what we would be covering, and what books we were supposed to read. I was making notes all throughout the lecture, and before I knew it, it was only 9:15am. ' _God, this is going to be a long day'_ I thought and my god was I right. When the lecture finished at 11:00am, it felt like I had been in there all day. What I actually learn in the two hours, I had no clue, so I knew I needed to look back over it. Luckily, all the lecture notes are released online, so I knew I could get access to them.

I had an hour to kill before my group session, so I decided to look up the books I was supposed to read. It was made very clear that the university would not provide them for us, but they were essential to the course, so I knew I needed them. It turns out that these books were not cheap, some costing about £50, so let's just say I got in contact with a friend. Belle said that most of the books were in the royal library at the palace, and offered to lend me a few. _'We all know how much the queen loves reading'_ I thought to myself, whilst the rest of the books I agreed to pay for myself.

That's what the maintenance loan is for after all. By the time I had finished, it was 11:50am, so I started to make my way to the group session. Luckily, it was only an hour long, but it was actually quite enjoyable. We spent the time looking at some old English, and trying to interpret what it mean. With me being me, I had loads of great ideas, but I was too scared to share them, in case they were wrong. Eventually I was forced to share my ideas, and everyone seemed to agree to what I had to say. I have to admit, it was a slight confidence boost.

The session ended at 1pm, so I decided to go out and get some lunch. By this point, I had been sat in talks for 3 hours, so I was pretty drained. I walked into one of the restaurants to find Evie, Doug and Lonnie sat there, so I thought it might be nice for me to sit with them. I grabbed some food, and approached them at the table. "Hey, guys. Am I ok, to sit with you. If you don't mind of course" I asked rather nervously. After avoiding every attempt to spend time with them, I was expecting them to turn me away.

"Of course Ben, and you don't need to ask to sit with us. We're your friends" Evie said, smiling. I smiled back at her, and sat with them, causing a rather awkward silence.

"So Ben, have you had any lectures yet?" I heard Doug ask, trying to return conversation to the table.

"Yeah, I had one at 9am this morning, and then I had a group session at 12pm. It was alright I guess" I said, hoping I hadn't told them too much. _'What if they are just being nice, but don't actually care. What if I'm telling them too much? Should I have asked if they had anything'_ all these thoughts flying through my head. "W-What about y-you g-guys? H-Have you had any?" I asked, trying to maintain the conversation.

Evie answered first "Yeah, I had my introduction to Business lecture. It was actually really interesting. Then I've got a tutorial later. I thinks it's going into the economic side, but I'm not sure" she finished with a smile, and I calmed down a bit. Now I knew I hadn't told them too much. Doug said that his first lecture was later, at about 3:00pm, while Lonnie's was tomorrow. Doug continued his study into Chemistry, whilst Lonnie was studying Sport Science. We sat and chatted for a few hours, before Doug had to leave for his lecture. I took this as an excuse to go as well, and headed back to my room.

When I walked in, I found Carlos and Aaron making out on the bed. They jumped when I walked in, and Carlos quickly pulled himself off of Aaron. "Oh, god, I'm so sorry. I should have knocked" I said, as I quickly closed the door, and walked away. Now I needed to new plan. I couldn't just hide in my room until 7:00pm, when the society was meeting, as I had intended. I made my way into the library, and decided to take a look for any of the books on my reading list. Whilst the Uni said they wouldn't provide the books, surely they would have at least some of them. I mean, someone could have donated them after they had used them. After looking around the library, it seems like they did have the books, but I was too late, and someone had already taken them out. I checked my phone to see that it was only 3:30pm, and I knew this was going to be a long day.

6:30pm:  
With the society meeting in half an hour, I finally decided it was about time I returned my dorm room. Before I entered this time, I knocked to the door, and Carlos answered pretty much immediately, "it's open." This time he was sat at his desk, doing some work of his own, and Aaron was nowhere to be seen. "Oh hey Ben" he said, as I walked in, flashing a smile.

"H-Hi" I responded, walking over to the dresser, and started to get changed. I saw Carlos glance over whilst I was shirtless, and he blushed. I was a bit more buff that when we were dating, and I think he noticed. "Going somewhere tonight" he asked, obviously noticing I was dressing up. And by that I mean I was putting on my nice pair of skinny jeans."Yeah, one of the societies is meeting." And he clicked.

"Oh, yeah, the LGBTQ+ meeting. I completely forgot. Well, Aaron and I are going, so at least you'll know someone." He said, rushing around the room, trying to get changed.

"Yeah. Well, I suppose I'll see you there" I said, blushing as he had gotten shirtless in return. He was a bit more buff as well, but still not as defined as me. "Well, you could always walk with Aaron and me if you wanted. It'll only take me five minutes to get ready." he replied, and I instantly got a bad feeling about it.

"Nah, I'll be alright. I-I'll see you later ok." I said, exiting the room, and as if on cue, just as I opened the door, Aaron was stood there, ready to knock. We exchanged a friendly head nod, as I left the room and he entered.

About 20 minutes later, and I turned up to the meeting. It seems like they had managed to rent out a room in the Student Union with a bar, and a few people were loitering about. As I walked in, someone greeted me, and did their usual spiel about what tonight was about, and how I should just be myself. I headed over to the bar, and ordered myself a drink.

As much as I wanted to mingle, I was too scared, and didn't really know what to say. So, I just stood there by the bar, watching everyone else. I checked my phone a few times, but after a while, I was just scrolling through the same posts. That's when I heard someone shout my name "Ben." I looked up expecting to see Carlos and Aaron, but instead it was James. The person Evie promised I would go on a date with, but then never did.

"James, hey" I said, placing my phone in my pocket, readying myself for an awkward conversation. "How have you been" I asked, trying to sound as nice as possible. At some point, I was expecting him to shout at me to not texting him back, but it never came.

"Yeah, I'm good thanks. I had my first Geography lecture today, which was alright, but the most exciting part was when we started to use a computer program to stitch images together. How are you getting on?" he replied. _'Ok, now I know how much to tell him.'_ I thought to myself. I was always worried that I was talking too much, so I tended to stop myself.

"Yeah, I'm good. I had my first Literature lecture, but I'm not quite sure what it was on. Then I had a group session, with was nice. We studied old English" Let's just say he wasn't quick to give up on conversation. "Literature hey. Do you want to be a writer or something" he joked, and we shared a chuckle.

"In all fairness, I don't know. I just enjoyed it at school, so I figured I would carry it on. Why did you choose Geography" I replied, my nerves were slowly calming.

"Well, someone needs to prepare Auradon for natural disasters, so why not me?" he joked, continuing to share a laugh.

We spent the rest of the evening chatting, and getting to know each other. I could tell he knew who I was, god most people in this place did, but he never approached the subject. He also never forced me to answer a question, which was nice. By the night had ended, I had started to relax a little bit. _'God, I had nothing to worry about. We have loads to talk about,'_ I thought to myself. But then the worst thing happened.

When reaching for my drink, I'd managed to knock it over, and spill it down myself, causing me to go into mass panic. He didn't freak out, instead, he got some napkins from the bar, and helped me clean myself up. He then pulled out a spare t-shirt from his bag. "I heard you panicking the other day about it, so I thought I'd pack a spare shirt, just in case anything happened." He said, chuckling.

Without thinking about it, I took my top off, and started to ring it out. Then, I thought about it. I was sat in the middle of a bar, with my shirt off. He was just looking at me, and I heard a few wolf whistles, which caused me to blush massively. I took the shirt from his hand, and put it on. "T-Thank you James, but I think I should be going." I said, pulling myself from the booth, before making my way to the exit.

"At least let me walk you back to your room" I heard come behind me, and turned to see James, trying to catch up with me. I stopped, and waited. We continued to talk until we reached my dorm room. "Thank you James, for such as great night. Well, apart from when I made a mess, which I am so sorry about, I wasn't looking at what I wa…" I began to ramble, and before long, he had pulled me into a kiss. I didn't even try to resist, it just felt so good. He was the first to pull out, and realised what he had done.

"I'm sorry" he said, before trying to walk away. Before he got too far, I grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer to me. I said to him "For what?" before pulling him into another kiss. This time, he didn't even try to resist, hell, he even pushed deeper into it before pushing me against the door. _'God, this is so good'_ I thought, as we fought for dominance. This time, he won, and I wasn't used to it.

It must have been a good thirty seconds, before we heard someone fake cough behind us. We quickly stopped kissing, and turned to see Carlos and Aaron, waiting to try and get in the door. We both panicked, and brushed ourselves down, before he said. "I'll get going. I'll see you around Ben." At this point, I was just overwhelmed with happiness, so I just nodded, and smiled back at him. In my happiness, I hadn't realised that I had slid down the door, and was still completely blocking Carlos and Aaron from entering. But did I care, not really. I just couldn't get that moment out of my head.

It had gotten to the point, where the pair of them were bored of waiting, so they just opened the door, causing me to fall back into the dorm room. I snapped out of my state when my head slammed against the floor. I just saw them walk over me smirking, whilst I glared at them when they did so. At this point, it was about 10:30pm, and I hadn't realised that we were talking for so long. I checked my timetable, to see that I had another lecture at 9:00am, but after that, I was free for the rest of the day.

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 **Well, I hope you enjoyed that chapter, and you can see that the story is starting to take shape a little bit. Anyway, see you on Monday for Chapter 4 of WILTW :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi Guys, and welcome back to Now the Commoner. I'm sorry this was uploaded a day late, but I was on a fieldtrip, with no access to my computer :(. Anyway, thank you so much for leaving some reviews, and I hope you are all enjoying this story so far.**

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October 6th-Carlos 18th Birthday Ben's POV  
Today was a difficult day for one reason. Whilst it was Carlos' 18th birthday, it also marked a year since we had broken up. However, in that year, a lot has changed. Carlos and Aaron are as happy as ever, and James and I had continued to talk. It had been 11 days since our little moment at the door, and whilst we still weren't official, we spent most of our free time together. I had introduced him to everyone, and everyone seem really happy for me.

Once again, I am getting side tracked. Today was Carlos' 18th Birthday, and he was holding a little party in our room later, so technically I was invited, but he was heading out into town afterwards, so this was more like pre drinks. I had spent most of the day with James, whilst Evie and the gang had spent the day fussing over Carlos.

Anyway, it was now about 9:00pm in the dorms, and everyone was starting to arrive. Evie, and Doug were the first of course, and they were completely fussing over him. Evie had designed him a new outfit to wear, and wanted him to try it on. He walked out of the bathroom, and everyone gasped at how he looked. Well, everyone else. I just smiled at him, whist everyone continued to fuss over him. After about 10 minutes, Lonnie and Jane had turned up, as well as surprisingly James. He walked over to me, and sat next to me on the bed.

"How are you getting on" he whispered into my ear, and I just looked at him all confused. "Ben, don't play dumb with me. Everything is on the internet" he said, wrapping his arm around my neck. I suddenly felt safe, and protected.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I mean, it's been a year, so I'll be ok" I whispered back to him, before kissing him on the cheek. "I mean, I've got you" causing him to chuckle.

"So, I'm yours huh?" he laughed back. Before I knew it, he had gotten up off the bed, and kneeled in front of me. Everyone in the room noticed, and all conversation stopped. Then he proceeded to talk, "Ben, I know we've only been dating a week, but I was wondering if you wanted to be my boyfriend." I heard Evie, Lonnie and Jane start a chorus of "aww" whilst I just jumped off the bed, and pulled James into a kiss. He pulled back, and said, "Well that doesn't really answer my question" causing everyone in the room to laugh.

"Of course I will James," I said, whilst patting him on the arm, and pulled him back into a kiss. Everyone cheered and clapped for us, before returning to their previous conversations. James sat next to me on the bed, and we chatted to everyone for about another hour. It got to 10:30pm, and Carlos had decided that he was ready to go clubbing.

Everyone was getting ready to leave, when I whispered into James' ear "You know, the dorms gonna be free for the next few hours, if you just wanna hang here?" and kissed him on the cheek, and I think he got the message, and nodded back to me. "You guys have fun, and we'll see you tomorrow" I said, as they left the room.

Evie spoke up, "Are you sure you don't want to join us?", and I quickly responded. "Nah, I think we'll be ok" before winking at her. Fortunately James didn't see, but Evie got the message. She left the room saying. "Ok, you two have fun. And stay safe" chuckling to herself.

As soon as she left the room, I felt James push me back into the bed, and pulled me into a passionate kiss. I started to fumble about, placing my hands on James' chest, and feeling his pecs and abs. "God…you're…so…hot" I said between breaths, and he had done the same to me, sliding his hands up my top. Before long, we had both removed our tops, and were grinding our body's against each other.

I used all my energy, and flipped us, so now I was on top. I started to trail kisses down his neck, until he moaned, and I knew I had found the sweet spot. I started to suck, and nibble on the spot, causing him to moan louder, and louder. A love-bite formed on his neck, so I moved further down his body, toying with his nipples for a little bit. My mouth grazed his right nipple while I started to play with his left one. "O-O-Oh, B-B-Ben" I heard him moan whilst I did so. I played with them for a few minutes, until they were red, and moved down onto his abs.

He had a beautifully defined six-pack, so I trailed my tongue across every crevice in between them. My hands reached for his belt, and I looked at him, making sure he was ok with it. He just nodded, and I could see the anticipation in his eyes. I undid this trousers, leaving him in nothing but his boxers. I continued to trail my tongue across his body, whilst my hands started to play with his semi-hard member.

Once he was hard, I pulled off my own trousers, before making my way back up his body, pulling him into another deep kiss. This time our hard members were grinding against each other, and I could hear him moaning, and he was fumbling to remove our pants. I have him a helping hand, pulling both our pants down, and then grabbed his dick, giving it a few playful tugs. He was in heaven, and I could see it.

I grabbed the base of his dick, to stop him from cumming, and started to lick his dick from head to base. He continued to moan in pleasure, and before long, I had taken his dick into my mouth. I bobbed up and down for about two minutes, letting his dick hit the back of my throat, and I could see he was desperate to cum. I released the base of his dick, and tried to nod as best I could, letting him know he could cum.

He was unable to control his self, and thrusted into my mouth, causing him to cum. He shot 5 ropes into my mouth, and I was able to swallow most of them, letting a little bit dribbled out of my mouth. I took his dick out of my mouth, and he pulled me into a deep kiss.

"Want…me…to…fuck…you" I heard him pant, and I just nodded. He flipped us over, and made his way down my body. I pulled a bottle of lube, and some condoms out of my bedside table, and placed them on top of it. By this point, he was tugging on my dick, causing me to moan "J-James" louder and louder. He grabbed the bottle of lube, and slicked a few of his fingers up, tracing them around the rim of my hole. It felt so good, "Please, do it" I panted, causing him to push one finger into my hole.

I moaned his name, as he slicks another finger into my hole, reaching as far as possible. I reached my prostate, and I scream in pleasure, causing him to chuckle a little bit. At this point, he starts to tug on my dick again, causing me to moan more and more. He finally pulls his fingers out, and rolls the condom down his dick, before slicking it up. I can feel him place his head against my hole, before slowly pushing into it, causing me to inhale sharply. "You ok" he asks, worried that it was hurting.

"Y-Y-Yeah, Keep going" I say, causing him to push deeper. I can feel his entire length inside me, and it feels so good. He waits a few seconds, before thrusting into me, each time hitting my prostate, and I wrap my legs around his waist. As well as this, he was jerking me off at the same time, causing me to get double the pleasure.

James delivered one more tug, and that was enough, I shouted "James" and came over both our chests, and within seconds, James came as well. He collapses on top of me, and we both just lay there panting, trying to regain our breaths. I came down from my orgasm, and kiss him on the neck. "That was amazing" I said to him, and he just said "Yeah…" I pull him into a passionate kiss, and can feel him pulling out of me.

He threw the used condom in the bin, and led me to the shower. "We should probably wash off" he said, turning the shower on, and pulling me into it. We both wash and dry each other down, making the shower a rather long one. I collapse onto the bed, and could see that he was loitering about. "You can sleep here if you want," I said to him, knowing it's exactly what he wants to hear. Before long, he joined me in the bed, and started to spoon me, as we fall to sleep. There is something about him that just makes me feel safe and protected.

Third Person POV:  
We all know what they say, bad things always happen on Carlos' birthday. It turns out that in all of the excitement, Carlos forgot to take his ID out with him. When he turned up at the club, they refused him at the door as he couldn't find it. He told Aaron, Doug, Jane and Lonnie to wait inside, whilst he and Evie returned to his dorm room to grab it.

When they reached the door, they heard Ben shout James' name, signalling them not to enter. Both Evie and Carlos looked at each other, Evie with a look of embarrassment, while Carlos had a look of sadness of his face. They heard the shower start to run, so Carlos quickly nipped in and grabbed his wallet of the side. Evie notices the look on Carlos' face, and decided to question him on it.

Carlos' POV:  
"Carlos, what's up" Evie said, pulling me into a hug. "Ever since we reached the room, you seem down. It's your 18th birthday, you're officially a man" she said chuckling. I just faked a laugh, and she notices, before pulling me into a hug. I broke down into her arms. "It's been a year, and I still love him" I admitted to her. "I've always loved him Evie, I was just a fool, and didn't see it."

"Carlos, it's ok. There was a reason you broke up with him" She replied, which caused me to sob even more.

"I broke up with him, because I was jealous of him and Xander, even though nothing ever happened between the two of them. I broke up with him because he left me on my birthday, only to find out he had bought me the most thoughtful gift." I continued to sob.

"But you also broke up with him because he ignored all of your text messages, and then snapped at you when you asked why. Carlos, you and Aaron are so happy together, you're always smiling when you're around him", she replied, but it didn't help how I was feeling.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. But I mean, we've been dating for 10 months, and nothing is happening. We are at a standstill. I mean, we haven't even had sex yet. And Ben and James are doing it an hour after they became official." It was true, we had done stuff, but he hadn't properly slept together.

"Well, maybe tonight would be perfect. It's your birthday, so maybe he would be willing to…do it" she finished with an awkward smile. She helped me tidy myself up, and we made our way back to the club. This time, I was let in, and I generally enjoyed the rest of the evening. I didn't get too drunk, but I had enough drinks to get me into a light buzz. Luckily it was a Friday, so I didn't need to get up in the morning. Evie, Doug and Lonnie had gotten completely slaughtered, whilst Jane was similar to me. Aaron only had one or two, and then switched to cokes, so I don't think he was feeling anything. _'That's so typical of him'_ I thought to myself, and just continued to enjoy myself for the rest of the night.

By this point, it was 3:00 in the morning, and I think everyone was ready to head off. And by that I mean Evie, Doug and Lonnie had spent the last 10 minutes throwing up the toilet, whilst Jane, Aaron and I comforted them. On the way back, I helped Evie, whilst Jane helped Lonnie, and Aaron helped Doug. We dropped them off at their dorms, and Aaron proceeded to walk me back to mine. "Hey, do you think I could sleep at yours tonight. When I went back earlier, I heard Ben and James err… going at it" I asked with a light chuckle.

"Yeah, that's fine. My roommate is never there, so you can sleep in his bed" he replied. ' _Oh god, this is going to be more awkward then I imagined'_ I thought to myself. "I was thinking, maybe we could sleep together" I asked, looking at him, with puppy dog eyes.

"Aww, how could I say no to that" he said, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. We got back to his room, and stripped down into our underwear. He climbed onto the bed first, and I saw this as my chance. I climbed on top of him, and starting to kiss his neck. Before long, I heard him speak up. "Carlos baby, I'm too tired. Can't we just sleep tonight", and I just groaned.

"That's all you ever want to do, sleep. Don't worry, you can have your sleep" I said to him, redressing myself. "I'll just go back to my dorm. I'll see you tomorrow I guess" I said to him. I heard him say "Carlos wait…" but before he could continue, I slammed the door shut, and walked back to my room.

I walked into the room, only to find Ben snuggled into James, sleeping happily together. Similar to Ben, I ended up walking into my dresser, causing the pair of them to shoot up from the bed. "Don't worry, it's only me" I said, "Can I turn on the light? I can't see anything" and Ben was quick to respond. "Yeah, just give us a minute." I heard the pair of them rustling about, before Ben said they were all good.

When I turned the light on, the pair of them were wrapped in the duvet, and I saw all of their clothes on the floor, and I mean all of them. "What are you doing back so early" Ben asked, "I thought you would be out all night, like I was" he finished, looking at James chuckling.

"Evie, Doug and Lonnie got pissed, and were throwing up, so I decided to call it a night. I went back to Aaron's, but we kinda got into an argument, and here I am" I responded.

"Oh, well I'm sure it'll all blow over in the morning" I heard Ben say rather nervously. "Oh, and I left your present on the bed. I haven't really had the chance to see you today". I walked over to the bed, to see a medium sized box there. I unwrapped it, it was a mini arcade machine. "I know how much you like video games, so I though hey, now you can play some old school ones." He said, and I chuckled.

"Thank you Ben, it's great. Now, I'll let you to get some rest. Goodnight" I replied. "Night Carlos" I heard the pair of them say. I turned off the lights, got undressed, and got into bed. My final thought was _'Another successful birthday'_ rather sarcastically.

9th December-Evie's 19th Birthday, Third Person POV  
Today was Evie's 19th Birthday, and boy did she may a bit fuss about it. She had to be the centre of attention for the whole day, and she made sure she was, you can trust me on that. She had managed to rent out a hall, for all of us to have a party. That way she didn't need to worry about going to any clubs or anything.

Things between James and Ben couldn't be any better, although they were still in the 'honeymoon stage' as people call it. They spent all the time they could together, and when they couldn't, they would constantly text each other. They would alternate nights, so one night Ben would sleep at James', and vice versa. Things between Carlos and Aaron had calmed down. They had recovered from their argument on Carlos' birthday, and their relationship was holding steady. However, they didn't spend every waking hour together, as Ben and James did. But when the two of them did spent time together, it was special. Evie and Doug had also hooked up, and were happy with each other.

Ben's POV:  
"James, hurry up, we're going to be late, and trust me, we wouldn't want to be late" I shouted through the toilet door. Carlos and Aaron just chuckled. "Sorry, I'm just doing my hair" he shouted back.

"Yeah, for the past hour" I mumbled back. "I heard that," he said, causing Aaron and Carlos to break down laughing.

"Ben, don't worry. We'll be fine. The party's in half an hour. We've got plenty of time" Carlos said through his laughter. "Yeah, but you know Evie. This needs to be perfect, and I don't want to be the reason why it's not" I said, chuckling back. James then took the next 5 minutes doing his hair, before he finally walked out. "There, now we can leave", I said as James walked out of the toilet. We all made our way out of the room, towards the place Evie had rented for the evening.

From what we had heard it was only the 8 of us, so we weren't expecting something huge. Oh, who were we kidding? This was Evie we were talking about. I'm surprised she hadn't tried to rent out a yacht. Luckily tonight fell on a Saturday, I could get absolutely hammered, and not have to worry about the consequences. Plus, if Aaron was coming, then I'm sure he would look after us. It was a little joke between the group, basically saying that Aaron was no fun. Anytime we went out, he wouldn't really drink much, and always end up taking care of us. I'm pretty sure everyone but Aaron knew about his joke, and even Carlos was ok with it.

Anyway, I'm getting side-tracked, as always. We finally reached the hall, with 5 minutes to spare I might add, to find that Lonnie and Jane were waiting for us. We were told to wait outside, and that's when we saw the Limousine approaching. We all just stood there and shook our heads, as Evie and Doug get out of the limousine, making a grand entrance as usual. We followed her into the hall, to see the place had been completely decorated to Evie's taste.

There was blue streamers hanging from the ceiling, with '19' balloons everywhere. The tables all had blue table cloths on. As you could probably tell, blue was her favourite colour. Suffice to say, the night began with us all saying happy birthday to Evie, and showering her in appreciation, which she absolutely loved. By this point, it was about 9:00pm, so I had decided it was time for me to start drinking. I offered to buy everyone the first round, which they all pounced on, causing me to spend about £50 in drinks. Not that I minded, I could hold it against everyone all evening.

By the time it had reached 11:30pm, I was probably 4 ciders in, and was enjoying a light buzz. Ok, so maybe I was kind of a light weight, and was not the best at holding my alcohol, but hey, I was having fun. Oh, it turns out I was wrong as well. She had invited everyone in her business class to join us, so it became very crowded very quickly.

We've been dancing all evening, so I decided to get some fresh air. James was having too much fun, so I decided to leave him to it. God, by this point, he was probably 7 drinks in, and I was going to have to deal with the aftermath tomorrow. At the moment, he was 'rocking it' out on the dance floor, and Aaron was on hold to help him if he needed it. I walked outside, to see that Carlos had had a similar idea to me, and wanted some fresh air.

I don't think he had noticed me, so I decided it was an ideal time to exact my revenge, and scare the shit out of him, like he did me. In all fairness, that was about 4 months ago, but I still wanted to get my own back. Mostly because I wasn't thinking straight, (he he). I grabbed hold of his shoulders, whilst shouting "BOO" into his ear, causing him to jump out of his skin. Whilst doing so, he stumbled, and started to fall, so I grabbed him, and pulled him into my arms.

"Ben, what the hell" he said, with a small pout on his face. "Karma is a bitch, Carlos" I responded, chuckling to myself. At this point, we were both staring into each other eyes. His eyes were that beautiful brown colour that just seemed to deepen as I stared at them. Surprisingly, we both started to lean in, and before we knew it, we were kissing each other.

It probably took me a good 30 seconds, before I realised what I was actually doing, and pulled away from him. "Carlos, we must never speak of this again. Ok. This never happened", and I could see he was about to say something, but I noticed another limousine had pulled up, and Belle and Fairy Godmother had gotten out. This was my chance to escape, so I ran over to them, leaving Carlos stood there.

"Your Majesty, Fairy Godmother, it's so good to see you" I said, bowing in front of them. I felt Belle tap me on the arm, and I pulled her into a massive hug. "You know I do it to wind you up right" I said, before hugging the Fairy Godmother.

"Ben, how have you been?" Belle asked, whilst we were walking into the hall. "Yeah, I'm good. Uni is going well, but let's just say it's a lot of work. And I have someone I'd like you to meet a little later." I led them over to Evie, and let them catch up for a while.

I'd decided it was best to join James on the dance floor, and pulled him into a deep kiss as I did so. "You know that I love you right?" I said to him, as I pulled out of the kiss. "Always, and forever" he replied, with his usual corny response.

Carlos POV:  
I was stood outside getting some air, when I felt someone grab my shoulder, and yell "BOO" into my ear. I jumped out of my skin, and managed to stumble whilst doing so. Luckily, who ever had scared me had grabbed me in their arms, and stopped me from falling to the floor, and guess who it was. Ben. "Ben, what the hell" I said to him, pouting, and he responded "Karma is a bitch Carlos", knowing he reference when I did it to him.

At this point, I was just staring into those gorgeous emerald eyes of his that had always made me feel safe. Before long, I had started to lean into him, and before long, we were kissing, and boy did it feel good. It must have lasted for about 30 seconds, before he pulled out. He said to me "Carlos, we must never speak of this again. Ok. This never happened", but before I could respond, he had walked off.

I saw that he was greeting Belle and the Fairy Godmother, so I decided to go back inside. I headed straight for the bar, and ordered a few shots. It was probably best that I didn't remember this night, and Aaron would look after me, so I was ok. 8 shots deep, and I decided that was enough. Well, to be honest, Aaron decided I had had enough when I fell off the bar stool, but details, details. I looked over at Ben, to see he was dancing happily with James, so decided to drag Aaron onto the dance floor. Without boasting, I was a pretty good dancer, while Aaron…not the best. We had fun though, and that's all that matters.

Ben's POV:  
I saw that Belle had finished talking to Evie, so I dragged James off the dance floor to meet her. "Belle, this is James, my new boyfriend" I said to her. Now, James was drunk, but he recognised royalty when he saw it. He went to bow down, only to bow too far, and nearly end up on the floor. Luckily I grabbed hold of him, and pulled him back up before he reached the floor. "You're Majesty" he mumbled through his drunken state.

"As you can see, James is enjoying the party. Perhaps we could meet up at some point, and you could properly get to know him?" I asked her, but she was just laughing by this point. This is why I liked Belle, she never took anything too seriously. "You would like a drink, Belle?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Just a Bacardi and Coke for me please", she replied, and I dragged James with me. I ordered the drinks from the bar, I got myself a Bacardi and coke as well, and got James the same. We all shared a toast, and Belle went off to talk to the rest of the students. I had decided that I remembered too much of the night so far, so I just went for it. That was the last decision, I remember making.

I woke up the next morning, at 11:30am I might point out, to find James asleep next to me. Carlos and Aaron were sharing his bed, so I assume Aaron ended up walking us home, and then sleeping the night to look after us. I got up and used the bathroom, and when I walked back out, I could see Carlos was starting to wake up. He looked over at me, and blushed, and I looked down to see I was completely naked. We shared a chuckle, as I made my way back to the bed, and fell asleep next to James. Before I did, I saw Carlos get up, in a similar state to me, and go to the bathroom. This time I blushed when he walked out, and we shared a chuckle once again.

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 **So, there we go. Ben and James did it, whereas Carlos and Aaron reached a standstill. Ben and Carlos also kissed! I wonder where this story is going to go next? Thank you so much again for the reviews, it's nice to see that people are enjoying the story. Both reviews want to know if Ben and Carlos will get back together, and seriously guys, I'm not that heartless.**

 **Oh, maybe I am ;). If you guys can wait a couple more weeks, then all will be revealed. Anyway, thank you all for the support, and I'll see you on Monday, for WILTW. I'm so excited to post that chapter! The infamous ate scene, with my own little twists of course ;)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Welcome Back to Chapter 8 of Now The Commoner. I'm running out of things to say here, so enjoy :)**

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Christmas Break-Third Person POV:  
This year, nothing drastic happened over the Christmas break. Carlos went back to Aaron's Kingdom, and spent the Christmas with Ariel and Eric. He had a whale (ha ha) of a time, swimming and trying all of the exotic foods. He had to do a tour of the Kingdom with Aaron, as well as meeting loads of executives. He was the boyfriend of a Prince after all. They then held a royal ball at the end of the evening, with said executives, which Carlos enjoyed, but by the end of it he was tired.

Ben spend the Christmas break with James. James was from a normal working class family, but Ben probably had the best time out of him and Carlos. He was able to help out in the kitchen, cooking some of the food, which he never got to do when he was a prince. They didn't have to make any visits, so they just spent the day, lounging about relaxing, and watching corny Christmas movies. Ben absolutely loved it. James' parents were wonderful, and one day during the holidays the two of them spent the day with Belle. James was sober during this encounter, and impressed the queen highly.

Evie and Doug spent Christmas together at Doug's house, and even shared a Christmas meal with Snow White, which started off as awkward, but they soon became close. Lonnie went back to Northern Wei, as per usual, while Jane's went back to Fairy Godmothers.

21st January-Ben's POV:  
It was about 3:00am, and I woke up, my whole body sheering with pain. I was screaming, and shrieking in pain, causing everyone to walk up in the room. Aaron, Carlos and James all jumped out of bed, and looked at each other.

"Ben, what's going on? Are you ok" James asked, but I was in too much pain to respond. I was able to mumble a few words.

"T-T-T-Take m-m-m-me o-o-o-outside" I managed to say, causing everyone to look at each other once again. "NOW" I managed to scream at them. I felt James place his arms under my legs, and across the top of my back, carrying me bridal style. As they were carrying me, I could feel anger building inside of me. What I was angry about, I don't know, but boy was I mad.

They managed to carry me out onto the grass area, and that's when I could feel it happening. "G-G-Get b-b-back" I stutter, causing James to place me onto the floor, before they all took a few steps back. Before I knew it, I had transformed into a wolf. It had probably been about a year since I last did so, so I got that rush of power, and freedom. I could see the three of them stood there, and each of them looked like a challenge. Something I wanted to kill.

I started to lash out towards them, growling, lunging and biting, but I never actually hit any of them. My self-control was fighting against my instincts, and at the moment, my self-control was winning. Aaron and James wore a face of fear, whilst Carlos was remaining relatively calm.

"Carlos, what the hell is going on?" I heard James ask, Aaron was just frozen in fear. I was continuing to lunge at them which probably didn't help. "I'll explain later. Right now, we need to try and help Ben" Carlos replied. He started to approach me slowly, taking a defensive stance, to appear non-threatening and said

"Ben, its ok. We're not going to hurt you." I started to growl loudly at him, but had stopped lunging at this point. Aaron finally decided to join the conversation, with the least helpful tone possible. "Carlos, what the hell are you doing, he's going to kill you" I heard him shout, causing me to glare at him, and lunge for him once more. He shit himself, and took a few steps back.

"Shut up. I've done this before" I heard Carlos say, before continuing to approach me. "Ben, you're going to be alright. We've coped with this before remember." By this point, I had stopped growling, and was starting to whimper instead. I approached Carlos's feet, before sitting in front of them. He started to stroke my fur, calming me down immensely. I felt James join him, whilst Aaron was still sceptical. After a few minutes, I had completely calmed down, and reverted back into my human form. Completely naked I might add.

"Come on, let's get you back to the dorm" I heard Carlos say, helping me up off the floor. James took of his top, letting me wrap it around myself. I ended up limping back to the room, as I was still experiencing an aftershock from all the pain. Then I heard Carlos pipe up. "Ben, when was the last time you transformed? Before tonight I mean."

"It must have been last Christmas, about a year ago, why?" I replied, curious where Carlos was going with his.

"Well, I'd rather not discuss it here, but I think I know what happened tonight." That was Carlos' way of saying he wanted to talk about the Isle, which Aaron and James knew little about. Like most people, they knew that I was sent, and I injured a young boy, but as we all know, that's not the whole story. And to be perfectly honest, I'd rather people didn't know the truth.

Anyway, we got back the room, and both Aaron and James decided to return to their rooms, allowing Carlos and I some privacy. "So, you were pretty brave out there. I remember the first time you did that" I said, trying to break the awkward silence.

"Yeah, well, a lot has happened since then" he chuckled back. That was the first time, he admitted that he loved me, so it was a bit of an awkward subject. "Anyway, I was thinking. When we were on the Isle, you must have used that power, at least once every month, maybe even more. Then, when we got to Auradon, you stopped it, only using it once about every 3 months. Then you completely stopped using it, for any entire year."

And I quickly interrupted. "So, you're saying I need to use it. Because it's become part of me" causing him to nod.

"You can't deny that part of you Ben. It would be the same if you didn't eat for a year, your body would start to ache, and eventually shut down. At least if you use it once a month, it's better than nothing." He finished.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. I just haven't had a reason to. I mean, it's not like I'm trying to defend myself everyday" I responded, chuckling to him and he chuckled back.

"Did James know?" he asked, causing me to get slightly embarrassed.

"No, I had no reason to tell him. He's gonna have a lot of questions. As will Aaron, I can imagine."

"Yeah what should I tell him" Carlos responded.

"Just the truth. My father curse was passed down to me, allowing me to shift was man into wolf. But I'd rather you didn't mention the Isle, or the incident" I finished awkwardly. Carlos just nodded, and got into bed. I followed his lead, getting into my head. I texted James saying:

 _Hey, I think we have some things to discuss tomorrow. If you're up for it. Xxx_

He was quick to respond.

 _Yeah, I'm up for it. I'll come to your dorm at 12:00pm, and we get grab some food. Xoxox_

I was relieved to know that James wasn't completely freaked out, and that he still wanted to see me. The bed felt empty without him in it, so grabbed a couple of pillows, and snuggled against those, trying to replicate the feeling. It wasn't too successful, but I did manage to get some sleep.

Third Person POV:  
Ben explained to James what had happened, whilst Carlos did the same to Aaron. James was completely fascinated by his power, and wanted to see more of it, whilst Aaron was sceptical about how it could be used. Luckily for Ben, he didn't really care about Aaron's opinion, so Ben started to use his power every month, mostly to avoid that type of pain again. James accompanied him on most of his transformations, and helped Ben through it.

Valentine's Day approached, causing the two couples to spend it together. Aaron took Carlos on a holiday back to his Kingdom, where Carlos was able to enjoy the beach, and weather. Luckily in Auradon, it was sunny most of the time, even in the middle of February, allowing them to enjoy the sea. Aaron then took Carlos out for a fancy meal, in the fanciest restaurant in his kingdom. Carlos did enjoy it, but all he really wanted to do was snuggle all day, and watch sappy movies. Eventually they got back to Aaron's room, where he had prepared a surprise for Carlos. He was finally ready to have sex, so that's how they spent the evening.

Funnily enough, Ben and James spent the day doing what Carlos wanted. They spent all day watching rom-coms, and spending 'quality time' with each other. They ordered in some pizza, and ice cream, and just enjoyed each other's company. Ok, so they may have done it about 3 times during the day, but they were completely content, and happy.

The rest of February was the same as every month. James and Ben were finally out of their 'honeymoon period', but they still spent most of their time together. Ben's 19th Birthday was slowly approaching, and this year, he was looking forward to celebrating it with his friends. He didn't want a big party, like Evie, but just a simple gathering with all of his friends, where he could get wasted. And that's all that mattered.

13th March, Ben's POV:  
I was looking forward to today. It was my 19th Birthday, and I wanted to spend it with my friends, and boyfriend. Last year was a bit of a disaster, but I wasn't going to let it affect me today. Following the advice my counsellor gave me last year, I was going to surround myself with all my friends, and try to stay positive. I met up with her a few days ago, and she asked how I was feeling about it. I was perfectly honest with her. I do still get upset with what it represents, but that was all over now. In all fairness, I could probably say that my life was better because of it. For the past two years, I was able to be myself, with no pressure. And ok, I've experienced ups, and definitely some downs, but it's all part of who am I now.

Boy, I definitely get side-tracked far too often. Basic premise, 19th Birthday, woke up in the morning feeling good. I got up, and took a shower and got ready for the day. Carlos was walking up as I got out of the shower. It was a Tuesday after all, so I had a lecture but I couldn't help that, so I might as well try to enjoy it. "Happy Birthday Ben" I heard Carlos mumbled, in his half asleep state.

"Thanks C, Now I'll let you get back to sleep" I replied, and I could see that as soon as his head hit the pillow, he collapsed. I just chuckled to myself. I left the dorm room, and made my way to the cafeteria for some breakfast. I had told James to meet me there, and thank god he did. He had already gotten the pair of us some food, so I didn't need to worry about that. As I sat next to him, I heard him say "Happy Birthday, my love" and then he pulled me into a hug. "Have you decided what you want to tonight?" he asked.

"Yeah, I just wanna chill in the student union with the lot of us, and have a few drinks." And he caught on to what I was saying. "So you want to get shitfaced" he said laughing, and I just nodded.

"I want to celebrate two birthdays, as I didn't really do it last year. So I'm going to make up for it."

"Well, I hope this helps." I heard him say, pulling out a wrapped gift. I opened it, to find a small notebook, with 'Ben' engraved onto the front of it. "I know how much you like writing, so I got you this. I was thinking if you ever had any ideas, you could use it to note them down. Sort of like an inspiration book." He said with a nervous chuckle.

"James, it's perfect. Thank you" I said, pulling the book into my chest, before pulling him into a passionate kiss.

"Woah, calm down there lovebirds" I heard Evie say, approaching us with her tray of food. Lonnie, and Jane were with her. "Happy Birthday Ben" I heard the three of them in a chorus.

"Thanks guy. Are you free tonight? I wanted to have a little get together in the student union", and the three of them nodded. We chatted for about 10 minutes, before I realised the time. "Oh, shit I'm gonna be late. I'll see you guys later" I said, rushing off to my lecture. It was my 'Writing the Modern World' lecture, so I didn't really mind it too much. In fact I found it fascinating, teach us about how the language we use now was formed, and where different words were from. The lecture lasted 2 hours, and it was 11:30 when I got out. I could see James was waiting for me, but he wasn't paying too much attention. I was able to sneak up behind, and shout 'BOO' into his ear, startling him massively.

He just pouted, whilst I hunched over laughing. "So, are you done for the day? I mean, do you have any more classes" he asked, rather nervously.

"No, I'm done now" and before I could ask why, he had grabbed by wrist, and started to pull me across campus.

"Perfect, I have a little surprise for you" I heard him say, so I just let it happen. We got to the front of the uni, where a taxi was waiting. After about a 15 minute car ride, we reached the beach. "I asked around, and heard that you were a fan of surfing, so I booked us a couple boards for a few hours. I was thinking you could teach me?" I heard him ask.

"Yes, yes, of course I will. James, this is absolutely perfect thank you" I exclaimed, overjoyed by what he had planned. He had packed us some swimming shorts, so we didn't need to worry about anything, and we spent the next 3 hours surfing. Well, I spent the three hours surfing, he probably spent half an hour surfing, and two and a half hours splashing about in the water. But he was loving it anyway, and that made me happy. It was about 3:00pm when we had finished, so we went out for a meal. It was a nice little restaurant, and I went for a burger, whilst James went for a pizza. We just chatted, and chatted for a few more hours. God, we never ran out of things to talk about, and he never pushed me to talk about anything, he was perfect, and I loved him.

It got to about 5:30pm, and we finally decided to leave the restaurant. We headed back to the room, to see that it was empty, and I think we both had the same idea. We shared an intense shower, to try and wash off all of the salt water, which lasted about 20 minutes, and then we went for it. Luckily, no one walked into the room, otherwise they would have been met with some sight.

It had reached about 7:30pm, and I had told everyone to meet in the student union for 8:00pm, so we needed to start getting ready. I wasn't really too fussed about what I looked like, so I just shoved on some black skinny jeans, and a grey long sleeve shirt, with a hood on the back. My hair was still in its faux hawk style, so it didn't really take long to do. James however, took about 10 minutes to choose hit outfit, and a further 10 minutes to do his hair. You could probably say he was the more stylish one in the relationship, but I couldn't admit that to myself.

We finally made our way down to the student union to see everyone was waiting for us. Luckily, we weren't late, so we really didn't need to explain anything to anyone. The student union room was similar to the one when I first met James, so luckily we had a bar. We had managed to rent out the space, so no one uninvited would be joining us. I was hoping Belle could make it, but I hadn't heard anything from her. In all fairness, she was on one of her royal tours around the country, so I didn't really expect her to show up.

After about an hour, Carlos pulled me aside, and handed me the signed book from last year. "Happy Birthday Ben. I was hoping this time, you would accept it" he finished with a little chuckle, and I pulled him into a hug.

"Of course I will, thank you Carlos." We got chatting about everything that was going on with uni and that, and we started to compare relationships, light-heartedly of course. Before things got too serious, James grabbed me by the wrist, and pulled me onto the dance floor. Carlos just chuckled as James did so, and he walked over to Aaron in return, and joined us on the dance floor. Evie and Doug joined us as well and we all danced as couples. Lonnie and Jane danced together, but they were both single.

By the time it had reached 11:30pm, I was completely wasted, and was enjoying life. Belle had video called wishing me a happy birthday, so at least she could 'see' me, and I appreciated that. It had reached 1:00 in the morning, and it was about time we all headed back to the dorms. Bearing in mind that it was a Tuesday, well technically Wednesday by this point, and we all had lectures that day so we decided it was best. We had all had a good time, and that's all that mattered. I went back to James' dorm, and spent the night with him, whilst Aaron stayed with Carlos.

Third Person POV:  
From Ben's birthday onwards, it was all exam preparation. Although the first year didn't count, they still wanted to do well. Especially Ben. He hadn't told anyone, but he had received a scholarship from another University in Bayou de Orleans, but only if he got 60% and above in his first year. Ben focused hard on his studies. He basically shut the outside world out, only going to lectures and his group sessions. From half way through April, he stopped going out at night, and instead chose to study.

He still spent time with James, but when he did, they would study together. Ben would teach James about literature, and James would do the same about Geography. Not that either of them listened to the other one, but talking it through helped. The exams started mid-way through May, and Ben had 2 exams in total, whereas Carlos had four exams for his Mechanical Engineering degree, and the pair of them seemed to nail them. University finished on the 1st of June, so before everyone would split up for summer, they had a few days together. As Ben finished his exams early, he quickly received the news that he was all good for the scholarship, and was excited to share the news with his friends. Well, that was until he did.

Thursday 31st May Ben's POV:  
I was able to rent out a room in the student union again, and invited everyone for one last party before we all broke up for the summer. After about an hour of drinking and chatting, I finally decided it was time to tell everyone.

"Guys, can I have your attention? I have something to tell you" I bellowed, causing everyone to look at me. I took a deep breath before continuing. "Mid-way through April, I received a letter from the creative writing uni in Bayou de Orleans. It turns out that the university had gotten a piece of my creative writing, and enjoyed it, so they offered me a scholarship, depending on my results. Well, I got in" I said, rather nervously, but everyone erupted into a cheer, and clapped for me. Well, that was everyone but James.

He just stared at me, before walking out of the hall. "James" I shouted, chasing him out of the room. "James, what's wrong. I thought you'd be happy for me. I'm pursuing my dreams like you always tell me to do" I said to him, grabbing his wrist, and turning him to face me.

"I am happy for you Ben. It's just…Bayou de Orleans is six hours away. I'm not going to get the chance to see you" he broke down. I pulled him into a hug.

"Shhh, it'll be ok. First, we are going to spend the whole of the summer together, and then I'm going to facetime, and text you every day" but James continued to cry.

"I'll take you up on that offer for the summer" I heard him say, and pulled him deeper into the hug. After about 5 minutes, we returned into the hall, and spent the rest of the night together.

Surprisingly, everyone got drunk, and I mean everyone, god even Aaron went for it, and got smashed by the end of the night. It was by far the best time we all had as a friendship group. We started to play a few drinking games, that may have got a little out of hand. James and I were challenged to seven minutes in heaven, and we managed to do everything in seven minutes. We gave each other blow jobs, then he fucked me for the rest of it. I think it was the time limit, but boy was it good. Probably the best we had ever done it. Everyone knew we had done it, as he shouted "Fuck, BEN" as he came, and it was fairly loud. Plus, my hair was ruined when I came out.

Aaron and Carlos were challenged the same, and they came out looking the same. I'm guessing they did it, but no one heard anyone shout anything. Finally it was Evie and Doug, and they went for it too. Doug had lipstick marks all down his chest, and Evie was glowing, so it was safe to assume we had all done it. Well, apart from Jane and Lonnie. We gave them the choice to do it together, but they both refused. Killjoys. The next day, everyone was messaging in our group chat, saying about how hungover and sore they were. Well, sore was more Carlos and I, but you know, we're all friends so they just laughed at us.

Third Person POV:  
James and Ben went back to James' for the summer. They had a brilliant time together, going to the beach, spending the days shopping, watching movies and just chilling. They met up with the gang for a few days, as they had planned a camping trip together. However, at the end of the summer, both Ben and James decided that a long distance relationship would be too much. They called it off when University started again in September, but they would try to remain good friends throughout the year.

Carlos and Aaron hit a rough patch half way through the holiday. They were perfectly happy with each other, but when Aaron got some news, it changed everything. He was recalled back to the kingdom, due to an incident that had occurred. Basically Eric's parents became ill, so he was recalled to spend time with them. It turns out that Aaron needed to start training to rule the kingdom one day, so his university education was cut short. Carlos and Aaron both decided it was best to cease their relationship. Atlantica was even further than Bayou de Orleans was, plus they had the issue that half of Aaron's kingdom was underwater. When Aaron entered the water, he legs turned to fins, allowing him under the water, whereas Carlos did not have that privilege, so it was best for them to end things. Similar to Ben and James, they would try remain good friends throughout the year.

Evie and Doug spent the holiday together, and didn't experience any relationship drama. They remained as happy as ever.

* * *

 **So, the first year of University is over, and both Carlos and Ben left it becoming single. I wonder where this story is heading. *cough* Benlos *cough*. I hope you guys are enjoying this story, and I'll see you on Monday for WILTW.**

 **Also, I was thinking of writing a Big Time Rush story, as I may have become obsessed with those boys. They are all so cute! Anyway, if you do have any suggestions for that, please let me know. TTFN :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi, and** **welcome back to Chapter 9 of Now the Commoner. You'll all be relieved to hear that this chapter finally has a Benlos moment in it, so you can all put down the pitchforks and torches. However, the length of said moment is... Anyway, I noticed this chapter has a lot of POV skips, so sorry about that.**

* * *

 **Second Year, Monday 17th September-Ben's POV:**  
This year, I am spending it at the University of Creative Writing in Bayou de Orleans, as you all know. They have such a great programme to help aspiring authors, but unfortunately, I have no clue what I want to do in the future. God I'm so unprepared. I do intend to make the most of this experience however. This year has a lot more optional modules, so I intend to tailor this year towards my own preferences. Two particular modules that interest me were called 'Apocalypse and the Modern Novel' and 'Gothic Fictions: Villains, Virgins, and Vampires.' Let's just say during my depression, I read a lot of apocalyptic and Gothic novels, and they made me feel slightly better.

SIDE-TRACKEEEEDDDD. Anyway, the point is, I'm excited to start this new year, and get into my creative writing properly. I've only really dabbled into it, writing short stories, and I'm looking forward to properly going for it. With my time on the Isle, I have a unique perspective. Well, at least that's what everyone keeps telling me. I have to admit, my writing is a bit darker than everyone else's. Back at the uni in Auradon, most people would be writing sappy love novels, whilst I was writing about pain and destruction. God, maybe that was a bit dark. However, it's the reason I was chosen for this scholarship, so screw you everyone else.

I was set up with a new apartment, and this time I was by myself. It was about a 10 minute walk off campus. I unpacked all of my stuff, including a photo album of all of my friends. There was a photo of me with all of them, including James and Carlos. With Carlos, it's been two years, and we got kinda close again, so I would class him as my friend. And with James, we were still really close. Hell, I wouldn't class it as we 'broke up', we just decided it was best to end it.

After unpacking, I made my way out of my apartment, and onto campus. It was still the induction week at this point, so all the fresher's were out partying and what not. Me being slightly mature, I decided to have a quite evening in. Oh, who was I kidding? I was gonna have some fun tonight, but not like I did last year. That one night stand turned into a relationship, and I don't really need that again. Besides, I have someone waiting for me when I get back. Carlos…, no I mean James. Definitely James…

 **Carlos POV:**  
After moving into a house with Evie, Doug, Lonnie, and Jane, I realised how tidy Ben was. There was stuff all over the house. This year, we all decided to move out of halls and live together, and whether that was a good decision or not, I don't know. But it would be fun for sure. I checked the group chat, and saw we had a message from Ben:

 _B: Hey guys, got settled in all ok. My apartment looks over the sea front and is really nice. Will keep you updated, and don't have too much fun without me_

I was the first to respond, in a private message so no one could see:  
 _C: Hey, make sure to send loads of photos. This place is a tip, I have finally realised how tidy you were. Have fun, and don't be a stranger xxx  
_ And just like that I clicked send. Then I re-looked at the message. I had just sent kisses to him. Oh god. I quickly sent him another message  
 _C: Ignore the kisses_ followed by a crying laughing emoji. He responded back:

 _B: Damn, I was kinda hoping they were for me_ followed by a winky face, and the same crying laughing emoji I sent him. _Don't worry, I'll send loads of photos. See you at Christmas_

 _'Few, that was close.'_ I thought to myself. He was chatting to everyone else in the group chat, so I took this chance to unpack all my stuff. Luckily, I had moved in first, and managed to claim the biggest bedroom. Doug and Evie shared a room, whilst Jane and Lonnie had their own, smaller bedrooms. The house then had two toilets, and a kitchen, enough for the 5 of us to live in.

We spent the day catching each other up on what we had done over the summer. I told them that I had spent the first half of it with Aaron, before he had to return to his Kingdom. I then spent the rest of my summer going from Jane to Evie, so they knew that part of the story. Lonnie told us that she started her official training over the holidays, and was expected to take the place of adviser. Basically, she would represent the interests of Northern Wei in Auradon, making sure that they got a fair deal out of all of it. Jane was a little bit shy to reveal what she had done over the summer. She told us that she spent most of it out, but she wouldn't tell us who with. When I went to visit her, this mystery person had disappeared, so this was the first I was hearing of it.

Evie said that she spent most of the summer working. The company she worked for back at Auradon Prep had a few summer jobs going, and were more than willing to accept her. She had managed to bank a load of money, so I knew we could get by this year. Evie popped out for a few minutes, and came back with a load of drinks, it was obvious she had planned this for a while. Everyone was quick to dive in, and we spent the evening drinking, and dancing about. Luckily, we were in a terrace house, so we didn't have any direct neighbours. And I'm pretty sure the house next to us was full of students anyway, and they wouldn't mind some loud music.

 **Ben's POV:**  
Doing what I said, I went out to a few nightclubs. I didn't want to overdo it this time, so I had a few drinks and chatted to a few people. It had reached 11:30pm, and I didn't really feel like being out all night. I was in a new town, and I wanted to go for a little explore, to see what was about. It was a typical seaside town, which a high-street filled with cute and niche shops. It had a lovely long golden beach, as well as some cliffs further down the coast. I made my way back to my apartment, and watched some TV for a bit, and ended up falling asleep on the couch.

Monday 24th September, Ben's POV:  
This was the first official week of university, with all of the lectures starting. Once again, I had a lecture at 9:00am on my first day. Boy, do I get 'lucky'. Anyway, I was up early as usual so I decided to message the group chat wishing them all luck:  
 _B: Good luck today guys. And remember this year counts, so try to make at least some notes_ followed by a winky face and a crying laughing emoji.

As usual, Carlos was the first to respond.  
 _C: Thanks. Got a lecture at 9:00am,_ followed by the crying face. _What about you?_

 _B: Same here, it's all fun and games_ followed by the same crying face.

Evie was quick to respond as well, but it wasn't helpful.  
 _E: Some of us are trying to sleep, and their PHONES KEEP PINGING._

 _B: Sorry E. Chat later._

I made myself some breakfast, got showered, dressed and ready. It was 8:00am when I left the apartment, and it was only a 10 minute walk to campus, so I still had some time to kill. This time I was super on top of everything. I made sure to visit the library on the second day, and take out the books I needed for this year, before anyone else could. I did photocopy quite a few of the pages, so I could make notes about them. I kept the note book James got me on me at all times, and made sure to jot down any ideas that came to mind. A lot of it was non-sense, but it was nice to keep track of it all. I had met a few people during the induction week that were taking the same course as me, and to be perfectly honest, they were kind of nerdy. However, that was perfect for me, as it meant we could have intelligent conversations about the topics, but it also meant we could all sit in silence, and no one would feel awkward about it. Good old introverted me.

I sat outside the lecture hall, reading one of the books on the reading list, until we were allowed in. The first lecture was on one of the core modules called 'Romanticism' and I knew exactly what the next 2 hours of my life would entail. Talking about sappy romantic novels. Ugh.

 **Carlos POV:**  
After chatting to Ben in the morning, I got breakfast, showered and dressed. The house was a 15 minute walk from campus, and by the time I was ready, it was 8:00am. My first lecture was on Engineering Mathematics and Control, and to be perfectly honest, I was looking forward to it. Even back at Auradon Prep, I loved Maths, and the feeling you got when your answer was correct. When I arrived on campus, I met up with a few of my class mates, and we discussed what we expected this lecture to be about. Yes, I was part of the nerd group. What did you expect? God, I was even in a society with them. I had fallen in love with technology when I arrived in Auradon, and when I watched that space show with Evie, I fell in love for a second time. She couldn't stand it, but I became mad for it.

From what I could tell, Evie, Doug and Lonnie didn't have any lectures this morning, and if they did, they were certainly pushing it. Jane either had a lecture and left really early, or didn't come back last night, but I couldn't tell which.

 **Saturday 6th October Carlos' 19th Birthday: Ben's POV:**  
I think by this point, we all know what the 6th October means. God, we've been documenting it for 3 years by this point. It was Carlos' 19th birthday, and as usual, he was having a small party at his house. Well, he lived with all his friends, so they were having a few drinks, and having a relaxing evening in. All of them were drinking, as they had nowhere to go.

I had sent Carlos a card with £30 in, saying happy birthday, but that wasn't his real present, I was. Ok, that sounded a bit weird. Because his birthday fell on a Saturday, I planned to train down and see him, but only Evie knew this. My train was at 8:00am in the morning, meaning I would arrive at Auradon Uni at about 2:00pm, so I could spent the afternoon and evening with him. Evie had told me they were taking him out for lunch, so I planned to decorate the house while they were out and when he returned, surprise him. She left me a key under the door mat, typical, and said they planned to be back for about 3:30ish.

Anyway, everything went well, and I arrived at the Auradon City on time. I took a taxi to the house, and it was completely empty. I got all the banners and that out of the bag, and went absolutely mad for it, blowing up loads of balloons, and sticking banners everywhere, and I mean everywhere. I stuck them over mirrors, on doors, on the windows, and hell, some even in the toilet. I wanted this to be perfect for him. It took me a good 45 minutes to do, and this meant I had some time to snoop.

This probably wasn't the best thing to do, but I went around everyone's bedroom, looking for anything slightly interesting, but I couldn't find anything. Evie and Doug had the usual lube and condoms, but not anything interesting. Lonnie just had a small collection of swords and knives, but I kind of expected that. Carlos' bedroom was just a geek fest, filled with video games, and TV boxsets of that space show. The little arcade machine that I got him was on his desk, and it looked like he had used it quite a lot. Jane's bedroom was pretty boring, as she didn't really have anything in there. I headed back downstairs, and heard the door opening, so I hid behind the couch, hoping they wouldn't see me.

I heard Carlos walk in and say "Oh my god. Who the hell did this? It's amazing", and I knew this was my chance.

I stood up from behind the sofa and said "I'm glad you like it, it took me quite a while" causing him to jump as he didn't expected to hear my voice. He just looked at me, before running towards me, and pulling me into a big hug. "Ben, I can't believe you're here. This is absolutely perfect."

I hugged him back, and said "Happy Birthday C." We must have remained like that for about 5 minutes, before Evie said something. "Ok, you two. I think that's enough. Some of us want to hug Ben as well."

We rather reluctantly separated, and I said hey to everyone else. I spent the afternoon catching everyone up on what I was doing, and how my writing was going, and they all seemed pretty interested. They then told me how they were getting on in return, and then we started to drink. It's pretty much all we did as a group of friends to be honest, but at this point, we were all together, so no one really cared.

We danced all night, and I think it's safe to say some of the moves Carlos was doing was pretty sexual. At one point, he started to grind against me, not that I minded of course, but I didn't want to think anything of it. We were just friends after all, right? Anyway, we danced until about midnight, and then started to play a few drinking games. Mostly truth or dare, and it went well. It was the typical challenges, like make out with so-and-so, or mix two drinks together into a disgusting combination. At one point I had to make out Doug, which made him uncomfortable, I could tell. But hey, he called me a good kisser, so all was ok. Evie and Lonnie had to make out, as did Carlos and Jane. You could tell Carlos was uncomfortable with his, but for the sake of the game, he did it anyway.

It reached about 3:00 in the morning, and most of them decided to call it a day. Jane and Lonnie went up to bed, as did Doug and Evie, but they have something else in mind. Carlos reluctantly went up to his room, whilst I got the couch ready, as it where I was going to sleep. I checked my phone for about half an hour, before I heard someone come down the stairs. Funnily enough it was Carlos. He walked into the living room, so I scrunched up on the couch, allowing him to sit down. "What's up C? Are you alright" I asked, as he looked a little bit confused.

"Yeah, yeah, I was just thinking about something" he admitted to me. I was about to ask what, but he slammed his lips against mine, completely catching me by surprise. He used this to his advantage, dominating the kiss, and using his tongue to explore my mouth. I finally realised what was happening, and fought back, this time winning dominance. I explored his mouth with my tongue as revenge. After about a minute of kissing, we both needed to breathe, so we pulled out of the kiss. I just looked at him with the most confused face I could, whilst he just said. "Alright, night Ben" and made his way back upstairs. Whether he realised what he had done or not, I don't know. But I have to admit, that kiss was definitely something. 5 minutes after, and I could still feel that lovely tingling sensation on my lips.

10:30am:  
I woke up that morning, and no one else was awake. I rummage through all the cupboards and managed to find some tea bags. God, I can't cope in the morning without a cup of tea. I turned on the kettle, which I didn't expect to be as loud as it was, and started to get prepared. Carlos came trudging into the kitchen, obviously heavily hungover. "Morning C, you want a cup of coffee?" I asked, and he responded with a noise and a nod. I have to admit he looked pretty rough, and probably didn't remember what he had done last night, so I didn't bother to bring it up, however he did. I poured his cup of coffee and handed it to him. He took a couple of sips, then proceeded to talk to me this time. "Ben, look about last night. I'm sorry that I forced it upon you," he said, causing me to blush slightly.

"Don't apologise, you didn't do anything wrong" I replied, blushing as well, then I admitted to him "I actually kinda enjoyed it," which caught him completely off guard.

"Yeah, me too" he admitted back. We spent the morning chatting, and Evie and Doug joined us when they came down. Jane and Lonnie managed to pull themselves out of bed about an hour after that. I decided to cook us all breakfast, sort of like a 'thank you having me' thing and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

We spent the day out in the town shopping. Carlos had some birthday money burning a hole in his pocket, and Evie always wanted to go shopping. I just wanted to spend some more time with them, so I tagged along as well. Jane and Lonnie came with us, but disappeared after about an hour. I think they got bored. Doug came for Evie's sake, but you could tell he was fed up. It got to about 4:00pm, and we decided to get a late lunch. My train back was at 6:00pm, so I didn't have a lot of time to spare. We got some fast food, returned to the house and ate it. I said my goodbyes to everyone, before getting a taxi back to the train station. I was in for a long train ride back, expecting to get back to my apartment for about 12:30am, but it was all worth it to see Carlos.

 **Carlos POV:**  
The worse part of the day was watching Ben leave. The next time I would see him would be at Christmas, which was only 2 months away, but it would feel like an eternity. I waved at him as the taxi pulled off, and could feel myself welling up. We went back inside, and Evie pulled me to one side. "Just think Carlos, nothing bad happened yesterday. Maybe that has finally broken!" she said with joy in her face, causing me to chuckle.

"Maybe. I hope your right Evie" I replied. It got to 6:00pm, and I checked to group chat, hoping to find an update from Ben. Luckily, he had sent something.

 _B: Got on my train all good. Thank you guys for a great weekend, and I'll see you at Christmas_

As usual, I was the first to respond to him.  
 _C: Thank you Ben, for coming down to see us. It was perfect, every moment of it. See you at Christmas.  
_ I was hoping he got what I was trying to say, but I could only wait and see.

 **Third Person POV:**  
The next two months consisted of Ben and Carlos messaging constantly, though no one else in the group knew it. Ben kept posting regular updates in the group chat, letting everyone else know how he was doing which was really well. He had come out of his shell in his group sessions, and wasn't scared to share his opinion. Preparing for his final year, he had started to plan the creative writing piece that he was thinking of doing. Well, you could say it was more of an autobiography, but he would change it enough so people didn't know it was about him. But this was only one of his ideas.

Another idea floating round was a horror novel about a few friends stuck in a haunted house together. It sounded pretty corny, but Ben would add his own twist onto it. For the sake of the uni, he was forced to consider a romantic novel of sorts, but he knew it wouldn't be his final piece. Ben needed to do something to make him stand out, and romantic novels were everywhere. Auradon only had a few horror novels floating around, you know, due to all the happiness and what not. However, Ben was still in his second year, and had to focus on what that entailed. Which was exams.

Carlos was preparing for his final year as well. He was designing a robot for his end of year project, but he wasn't allowed to start construction yet. Carlos was enjoying his mechanical engineering degree, and wanted to continue it in the future. But similar to Ben, he had to focus on his second year studies instead of his third year.

Christmas break was slowly approaching, and both boys were getting excited to see each other. But first it was Evie's 20th Birthday, and she wouldn't let Carlos forget it every time he mentioned Christmas. Unfortunately, Evie's birthday fell on a Sunday, so Ben was unable to come see her. He sent her a card with £30 in, and also sent her a message in the group chat. He did face time them at one point, making them extremely jealous. It was raining in Auradon City, whereas in Bayou de Orleans, the weather was perfect, so Ben decided to spend the day writing at the beach. They all saw the perfect weather that Ben was experiencing, and showed him what it was like at Auradon Uni. He just chuckled nervously, and promised to enjoy the weather for them. Ben wished them the best of luck, and signed off. The gang went out for a nice meal, and tried to enjoy it as best they could with the weather and all.

In terms of the Christmas break, as usual, Jane and Lonnie returned home. Jane was coming round on Christmas day with Fairy Godmother, but Lonnie wouldn't be able to make it. Carlos and Evie stayed at the house, whist Doug went home for the first half of Christmas. Similar to Jane, we was returning on Christmas Day, but he was going to have a Christmas meal with his family a few days before, so he was effectively getting two Christmas meals. Ben planned to return to the house during the Christmas break, and spent it with Carlos. Oh, and Evie of course.

* * *

 **Ok, so this chapter was a bit here and there, and I apologise for that. After reading it back, it definitely wasn't one of my best, so I hope you can forgive me. Anyway, during this chapter, we had Carlos and Ben having a hugging session, Carlos grinding against Ben during a dance session, and a little make out session between the two of them! So quite a few Benlos sessions. Have I said sessions enough yet? Session, Session, Session.**

 **Anyway, I do get quite sidetracked. You'll be relieved to hear that next chapter, Benlos comes back full force ;) so the wait is finally over. Also, thank you to the guest who left the review on the last chapter, theorising how they will do it. Unfortunately, i'm boring so nothing fancy like that happens. Also, I dont be uploading else while these two stories are going on, so dont worry about that. No BTR or more Descendants fan-fics until this story ends. When it does, another will take it's place.**

 **Um, i'm not gonna lie to you. I'm rambling on here, so I dont have to do Uni work, so I'm finally going to sign off now. TTFN :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi Guys, and welcome back to Chapter 10 of Now the Commoner. Umm, prepare yourself for this chapter, it's rated M for a reason. Benlos is back!**

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Christmas Break-17th December Ben's POV:  
I woke up early this morning. My train down to Auradon City was at 8:00am, and I was excited to see everyone again, especially Carlos. We have been talking like mad, and we were starting to get close again. I didn't want to rush anything, so I tried to keep the flirting on the down low, but that didn't stop him. I left the apartment at 7:00am, giving me time to check in at the station, and get a good seat on the train. However, when I arrived at the station, I got some bad news.

It had been snowing all night, and all the train lines had been completely covered. People were out shovelling the snow off of the tracks, but they had all of Auradon to do, so it was going to be at least a couple of days. They had arranged for us to get a coach, but really it wasn't much of a swap. The train ride took 6 hours, and that's when it was going over 100mph for half of the journey. With a coach capped at 70mph, it was going to take about 8 hours to complete the journey, in normal weather conditions. With all the snow as well, it was easily going to be a 10 hour journey. I was determined not to let this stop me however. I booked onto the first coach heading back, which was at 8:00am, and send a message to the group chat, updating everyone on what would happen.

 _B: Hey guys. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but my train has been cancelled. I've booked onto a coach, leaving at 8, but it's easily going to be a 10 hour journey. Hopefully, I should get to Auradon City by 6 this evening, but I don't know for sure. Will keep you up to date._

As I expected, Carlos was the first to respond:  
 _C: Ah, that sucks. At least you can still come down to see us. Text when you are getting to the bus station, and we will meet you. Stay Safe, and keep us updated._

Evie responded next,  
 _E: Yeah, that sucks. Like Carlos said, we'll meet you. At least we are spending the whole of Christmas together. See you later_

All the following messages followed a similar pattern, from Doug, Lonnie and Jane. I downloaded some apps onto my phone, and had already downloaded some books, movies and TV shows onto my tablet, so I was set for the 10 hour coach ride. It reached 7:50am, and they started to usher people onto the coach. I was sneaky, and decided to sit by the window, but I placed my bag on the seat next to me, hoping no one would sit there. Luckily they didn't, so that meant I could put my legs up, and relax for the journey. I started my first TV show, one of the science fiction shows Carlos raved on about. It was about a man that got super speed from a particle accelerator explosive. I wasn't too keen on things like this, but Carlos said that I'd enjoy it.

2 and a half hours later, and 3 episodes in, and I was hooked on the show. It helped that the main character was cute as hell, but the show itself was really good as well. I decided to watch another episode, but I wanted to enjoy this with Carlos, so I stopped myself from going further. I watched that episode, and decided to read one of the books that I had bought. This one was about a world where districts had to place people into some sort of games to the death. Everyone on the internet has been raving on about it for a few years, so I decided it was finally time to read the books.

I read the book for another 2 hours, until I felt the coach coming to a stop. Then a voice came over the tannoy. "This will be the only chance to stop. We are about half way through the journey, so if you need to buy some food do so now. We will not be stopping again." I haven't realised how hungry I was until now, so I decided it was best to get some food. We were given half an hour to get some stuff, and it was 12:30pm by this point. I went to the nearest shop, to grab myself a sandwich and that. Luckily I took everything with me, otherwise the situation could have been made so much worse.

Without realising, I had spent quite a while choosing what I wanted. As well as this, the queue was long, so I just lost track of time. When I realised what time it was, 1:05pm, I ran outside to see the coach driving off. ' _Well, fuck_ ' was the only thing I could think to myself. I was currently stuck at a service station, still five and a half hours out from where I needed to be. I rang the coach company, and they said that they advised the next coach to stop at that station, and that I would be able to board that one, no problems. They said it was only 10 minutes out, so it wasn't too long of a wait. I sent Carlos a private message, explaining:

 _B: Hey, slight change of plan. I didn't get back on my coach in time, and it left without me. I'm getting on the next coach, but it's going to add about 30 minutes to an hour onto my journey. Will keep you updated. Xx_

As usual, he was quick to respond.  
 _C: What are you like,_ followed by the crying laughing emoji _. See you in six hours I guess. Xx_

Luckily, the next coach did arrive on time, but I still had to wait another half an hour, so the passengers of this one could get some food. I was lucky enough to get a pair of seats to myself again, and this time, I remained on the coach for the entire stop. The coach left the service station at 1:45, and I was on my way once again.

I continued to read that book on the way back, finishing the first one in the series, and it was really good. I didn't want to move onto the second one straight away, so I decided to watch a film. It was about a bunch of humans colonising and mining an alien world, which the natives were not happy about. Anyway, one human has to try and negotiate with the locals, but instead he falls in love with one of them, and helps them fight the humans in the end. It was good, but god was it long. T

he film was 3 hours, but it did keep me occupied for half of my remaining journey. The remainder of the journey, I just did odd bits and bobs. I continued one of the stories I was writing for a bit, had a short nap, and listened to some music. When I was about 20 minutes out, I text Carlos letting him know. Returning Auradon City was nice, especially when it had snowed.

I finally arrived at the bus station at 7:30pm after a whopping 11 hour and 30 minute coach journey. Luckily, the traffic wasn't bad, so I wasn't delayed any further. I got off the coach, and saw Carlos and Evie waiting for me. Carlos spotted me and came running up to me, before pulling me into a huge hug. He looked up at me, and we both leaned in to the most passionate and deep kiss ever. We both fought for dominance, and just like the old times, I came out on top. Evie just stood there and looked at us.

After about a minute or two of making out, I pulled back, and said "Hi" blissfully.

"Hi" was all he said back, whilst Evie just tutted and rolled her eyes at us. We made our way back to the house, and started to cook some dinner. I was starving by this point. I was eating snacks the whole way back, but the only real meal I had was breakfast this morning.

We cooked some food, and chatted for about an hour. I caught them up on everything that was happening, and how uni was going, and the two of them did the same. Evie said she was getting on well in Business, learning the best ways to set one up, and how the financial side of it works. Carlos was doing really well in engineering, learning about what materials worked best for what project… But he was enjoying it, and that's all that matters.

I told him about how I watched that TV show he recommended, and how I thinks it's good, so we decided to sit and watch it together. We started from where I left off, and spent the next hour and twenty mins watching it. That was two episodes worth. He was about to stick on the next one, but he could see me yawning, and I have to admit, I was pretty tired. It had been a long day, and travelling really takes it out of you.

We decided to call it a night, and I started to set up the couch ready for me to sleep. The whole situation became very similar to the second night on the isle, when we moved into Cruella's room. He had noticed that I was shuffling pillows around, and just watched me for about 5 minutes. I think he was enjoying the power he had over me. I finally spoke up. "Well, goodnight. I'll see you in the morning" which caused him to chuckle.

"Ben, you can sleep in my bed tonight if you want" and I decided to see how far I could take this.

"But, where would you sleep?" I asked, with the snuggest look on my face. He caught on fairly quickly and started to toy with me. He unbuttoned a few buttons of his shirt, and got really close to me, so much that we were crouch on crouch. He was moving slightly, rubbing his dick onto mine through our trousers.

"Well, that is a good question Ben" he said, trailing his hands down my body. I could already feel myself getting hard, so he had achieved what he wanted. He slowly stepped away from me, and finally said. "I guess you're right, see you tomorrow" smirking back at me.

"Why you little…" I joked to him, following him up the stairs. Boy he was good at leading me on. I walked into his bedroom, to see him in nothing but his pants. He walked up to me once again, and pulled me into a deep kiss.

I fumbled, shutting the door behind me, and making sure to lock it, before pushing him into the bed. I took my shirt and pants off, and dove on top of him. We locked lips into another deep and passionate kiss, before I started to trail some kisses down his neck. I sucked and bit at it, causing him to moan, and he was showing no signs of stopping me. After leaving a fairly large love-bite, I turned my attention to his nipples. I used my hand of his left one, whilst using my mouth on his right one, tugging, and nibbling at it, his moans continuing. "B-Ben" I could hear him moaning my name, only turning me on more. After his nipples had become red, I trailed kisses down the rest of his body, exploring every crevice in his six-pack. I finally reached the waist band of his pants, and looked up at him.

My eyes were met with his deep chocolate ones, and he just nodded, giving me the go ahead. I played with his dick, through his pants at first, trailing the outline with my mouth, causing him to moan louder and louder. I eventually pulled out his rock-hard member, and gave it a few playful tugs to toy with him. He was already rolling his head back in pleasure. Before I started I said to him "I picked up this little trick", grabbing the base of his dick. I knew this would stop him from cumming, and make the whole experience more pleasurable.

I slid my tongue from head to base of his dick, and could already taste his slightly salty pre-cum. I took his dick in my mouth, only a few inches at first, before taking the whole lot, feeling it hit the back of my throat. He moaned louder "Oh Ben, I missed your mouth so much" as I bobbed up and down. I felt his hands grab my hair, forcing me down onto his dick, faster and faster. "Ben please" he begged "I need to cum", but I held strong continuing to bob up and down. He tried to remove my hand, but I swatted away every attempt, I was in complete control.

I eventually took pity on him, as he continued to beg my name "Ben". I removed my hand from the base of his dick, and picked up the speed, bobbing up and down faster and faster. Within seconds he yelled "Ah fuck Ben" and came into my mouth. I managed to swallow the whole lot, before taking his dick out of my mouth, and pulling him into a deep kiss, allowing him to explore my mouth. With all his force, he flipped us, so he is now on top. He started to trail down my neck, going straight for my sensitive spot, and forming a love-bite there, and he then travelled down my six-pack, straight to my dick.

He pulled my pants straight down, grabbed the base of my dick, and says "Karma's a bitch" before starting to bob up and down. I knew he was going to drag out like I did, and boy was I right. After about a minute of sucking my dick, he took it out his mouth, and started to lick my balls, causing me to moan "Carlos." I shoved my dick back into his mouth, and forced him down onto it, like he did me. I start to beg him "Please, Carlos" as I desperately need to cum. He let go of the base of my dick, and with one thrust into his mouth, I came. He swallows most of it, and I pull him into a deep kiss, tasting my own cum in his mouth. "I…want…you…to…fuck…me" I heard him pant between breathes.

I flipped us over once again, and he pulled out some lube from his bedside table. I slick up one of my fingers, and trace it around the rim of his hole. I use my other hand to toy with his nipple, tugging it, and use my mouth of the other one. "Ben Please" I heard him beg, and decide it's time. I pushed one finger into his hole, and circled it. Carlos moans in pleasure, so I quickly slick up another finger, and push that in as well. I reached as far as I could, and I knew I had found his prostate when he screamed.

I pushed another finger into his hole, making it as wide as I could. I continued to toy with his prostate and nipples, causing Carlos to roar in pleasure. "Ben, fuck me now, no more teasing" I heard him demand, and I was happy to comply. I got a condom, and rolled it down my hard length and slicked it up, before slowly pressing it against his hole.

I slowly started to push inside, and Carlos moaned louder with pleasure. "Faster" I heard him command, and I start to thrust into him with some pace. "Oh, I missed your tight ass so much Carlos" I moaned, thrusting into him faster and deeper each time.

"Oh, Ben. I missed your dick stretching my ass" he cries back. I continued to thrust into him, picking up a nice rhythm as i did so. I would start thrusting into him hard, before making my movements slow and sensual, before quickly returning to pounding into him. I must have lasted a couple of minutetes before blowing my load, screaming his name as I did "Oh, Carlos". I could see he is close to cumming as well, so I stroked his dick three times, as well as still pounding into him, causing him to cum all over my chest.

I collapse on top of him, covering him in his own cum as revenge. "Fuck…that…was…good" I panted, trying to get my breath back.

"Yeah…it…was…amazing" he pants back. He pulls me into a deep kiss for several minutes. We pulled back to breath, and out of Carlos, tying the used condom before throwing it into the bin. After a few minutes, we have both regained our breath. Carlos peeks out the door, and sees that Evie's door is shut. We both made a quick dash for the bathroom, and took a shower together, washing all the sweat and cum off of each other.

After about 10 minutes of showering, we made our way back to Carlos' room, and start to snuggled with each other. "God, I've missed this" I heard him say, and I responded "Yeah, me too. Night C", before we fell asleep in each other's arms.

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 **So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Ben's Christmas plans were almost ruined, but luckily he made his way home for the holidays, and shared a passionate session with Carlos. Hmm, I wonder where it will go from here? I will alert you guys now that this story is on its way out, with only 4 chapters remaining, but I am working on story's to replace it.**

 **I am writing what is technically a sequel to this story, but I'm not going to lie to you, I haven't worked on it for ages now, so it's no where near done. Other stories I am writing have been on my mind, so I might upload one of those, instead of the sequel, but who knows? I mean, I have a month to finish it, so it might be done by then.**

 **I will see you guys on Monday for the next Chapter of WILTW. Until then, TTFN :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Welcome back to Chapter 11 of NTC. Um, I got everything out in WILTW. As you can tell, I'm really happy that everything is safe, so enjoy this chapter. 11/14**

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Christmas Day-9:30 Ben's POV  
This morning started as usual, everyone having to pull themselves out of bed and start cooking early in the morning to make sure everything was done in time. Christmas everyone! I pulled Carlos out of bed, and we made our way downstairs joined by Evie. It was still only us three in the house by this point. We exchanged gifts. I got Evie a new jewellery box with her name on it, and some fairy lights that also spelt out her name, and. I got Carlos a replica of one of the props in his space show. A phaser I think it was called. Anyway it was signed by his favourite captain, and I also got him a poster of the internal workings of the ship-Voyager. They both absolutely loved it.

Evie got me a book light, and a large collage of photos with all of us in, and Carlos got me a few new book series that were out, a new satchel for carrying bits about in, and a beautiful watch, with an engraving on the back. We then spent the rest of the day making sure everything was done and ready. I spent most of the day in the kitchen, as I had become quite a proficient chef, whilst Carlos spent the day laying the table, and stealing small bits of food.

Everyone came round at 12:00pm, and the food was still in the process of cooking, ready for about 1:00pm. Jane came round with the Fairy Godmother, who I hadn't seen in a while as well as Lonnie and Doug. We exchanged gifts, and chatted, well they did. I was in and out of the kitchen for most of the day, making sure all of the food was ready/wasn't burning. When it hit about 1:00pm, all the food was done so everyone started to dive in.

We all settled, pulling the Christmas crackers, and telling the shit jokes they contained. That's when we heard the doorbell go. We weren't expected anyone else, so I decided to get up and answer it. I opened the door, and to my surprise, saw Belle stood there holding a bottle of wine. "Merry Christmas Ben" she said, handing me the bottle of wine. I pulled her into a deep hug.

"Merry Christmas, Your Majesty" I said, chuckling to myself. "There is a spare seat at the table if you would like to join us" I asked, hoping she would accept. "That would be lovely thank you." She answered, and I showed her inside. Everyone got up from the table when she entered, and she was very quick to stop them before they could bow. "I'm here as a friend, not the queen" she said jokingly, causing Evie and Carlos to pull her into a hug. "Merry Christmas Belle" everyone said, and we all dived into dinner. "This is amazing, who cooked all this" she asked, causing everyone to look at me, and I blushed when they did so. "Ben, you did this" she asked, almost shocked but I could see she didn't mean any offence. "What can I say, I love cooking" I joked, as we all continued to eat our food. We sat at the table for a couple of hours, everyone chatting and catching up. Belle's phone must have gone off about 15 times before she put it on silent. She was meant to be somewhere else, but we were more important to her. We had some dessert after we had settled down, and stuck on a few corny Christmas films to watch as a group. You know, the rom-coms and the Santa dramas that floated about every Christmas.

It was generally a good day. Carlos and I snuggled together whilst we watched the films, causing a few strange looks at first, but I think everyone clicked as to what was going on. We weren't official yet, and I had a plan for that. Evie and Doug snuggled together, as the rest of the just sat either on the floor. God, even Belle chose to sit on the floor. Her comment was "It's nice to rough it once in a while" causing everyone to laugh. She was obviously joking, but I can't imagine she sits of the floor a lot. God when I was younger, everywhere we went we got the best seats in the house. Even if it meant kicking someone else out of them. That got me thinking, reminiscing about the past.

I asked Belle to join me in the hallway, and asked about the King, to see how he was getting on. He was my father after all, even though he had disowned me. She told me he was getting on ok, but that every time she brought me up, he wanted nothing to do with it. It upset me a little bit, but it had been 3 years since I had saw him last, so I wasn't too affected. That's when we were called back into the room. It was time for the royal announcement. Every year, the King and Queen made a speech on Christmas, wishing the kingdom good fortune, and such. But, this year, Belle was with us, so only the King appeared. He did the usual speech, stating he hoped everyone was having a good Christmas. He addressed the absence of Belle, saying that she had 'important business to attend to' causing us all to chuckle. The speech probably lasted about 10 minutes, and once he had finished, we continued to watch the corny films, and spent the rest of the evening spending time together as a group.

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Third Person POV:  
Ben spent the rest of the Christmas Break with Carlos, Evie, Doug and Jane. Lonnie had to return to Northern Wei for the rest of her holiday, to continue her training. At the end of the break, Ben had to return to Bayou de Orleans, and no one knew the next time they would see him. The next big break was probably the summer holidays, so they all expected probably then. Luckily, Ben ran into no problems getting back, with the train lines fully operational again.

However, Ben was making his own plans. Valentine's Day was in February, and he had decided that was the perfect day to ask Carlos to be his boyfriend. Since Carlos' birthday they had been chatting, and with what happened over the Christmas break, it was clear that they both like each other, and wanted to get back together. Ben planned to use the paw print necklace he got Carlos to do it, as it would be the perfect gift.

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13th February-Carlos POV:  
It's was Valentine's Day tomorrow, and that means one thing, spending the day with Ben. Whilst we weren't officially a couple, everyone knew we were back together. I'd decided that this time I would travel up to see him. I've never been to Bayou de Orleans, and it was nice for him to not have to travel. We discussed what to do today, and come to the conclusion that we didn't really want to do much. Ben said he would give me a tour of the city, but other than that, we would just chill in his apartment. He said that he was going to cook me a nice meal, but I wanted to help out. This day was as much about him, as it was about me, so I wanted to do something special for him, however, I wasn't quite sure what that was. Anyway, this year Valentine's Day fell on a Thursday, so I travelled up on the Wednesday night. Luckily, it was a national holiday, so I had both Thursday and Friday off, so I wasn't worried about getting back.

I arrived at the train station at 9:00pm, on the Wednesday night, and Ben was waiting for him. Well, he was sat on the bench reading one of his books, when I pulled up, so I tried to scare him. However, when I got off the train, he wasn't there anymore. I walked up to the bench, and felt two hands grab my shoulders, and heard him shout "BOO!" causing me to jump.

"God, you sneaky bastard" I said to him, whilst he was in a fit of hysterics. "Don't lie Carlos, you were gonna do it to me. I could see it in your eyes" he said, and I joined him in the laughter. "One point Ben" I said.

We made our way back to Ben's apartment, which was actually really nice. He didn't really talk about it much, but my god was it amazing. It was all open plan, and very modern, obviously some strings were pulled to get him this. I moved some of the stuff into his bedroom, and joined him in the kitchen, preparing some food. We chatted for a few hours, and then decided to go to bed. After all, I had quite a long day at uni, and the trip up took it out of me.

Surprisingly I was up earlier than Ben this morning, so I decided to make him breakfast in bed. I know, I'm just so cute. I did all his favourite stuff, so basically I just made him a Full Auradon Breakfast, with bacon, sausage, egg, hash browns, the lot. I brewed him a nice cup of tea, and woke him up. "Happy Valentine's Day, my love" I said to him, holding the tray of food. He sat up in the bed, and I placed the tray over him. I quickly scuttled out of the room, and grabbed my own breakfast to join him. "Carlos, this is amazing" he said, diving into his food.

"So, what's the plan for today?" I asked between mouthfuls. "Well, I owe you that tour of the city, but other than that, whatever you want to do C" he said, still digging into his food. We discussed the plans for the day, which resulted in a tour of the city, and then returning to the apartment to chill, and watch TV and movies all day. Ben still to catch up on that superhero TV show. We watched a few episodes over Christmas, but there is three seasons by this point, and he has only finished the first. We finished our breakfast and headed for the shower.

I turned on the water, and felt Ben pull me into a hug, wrapping his arms around my body. His lips went straight for the sensitive stop on my neck, and I could feel his hands making their way down my body, toward my semi-hard dick. "God, you're so fucking hot" I heard him whisper in my ear, before continuing to kiss my neck. I wrapped my hands around Ben's back, following the water trail down his curves and muscles, before grabbing hold of his ass.

By this point, Ben had started to tug and pull on my dick, causing me to moan. Ben continued to toy with my dick, while trailing kisses down my back, towards my ass. Before I could react, Ben shoved his tongue between my cheeks, causing me to moan in pleasure. "O-oh Fuck Ben" I panted, causing him to whirl me around, and take my dick in his mouth. I tangled my hands into his hair, forcing him to bob up and down faster and faster.

His hands were exploring my abs, tugging at my nipples, forcing me to moan louder and louder. "I-I'm g-gonna cum" I huffed, causing him to pick up the pace. "Oh fuck" I said, again, but this time, Ben removed my dick from his mouth, and started to jerk me off, keeping up a good pace. Before long, I came shooting my seed all over his face. It must have been at least 5 or 6 ropes, and the whole thing was so fucking hot! Ben took it like a pro, wiping my cum off his face, before pulling me into a passionate kiss. "Like that?" he asked, pulling out of the kiss. I just nodded, still coming down from my orgasm.

We finished up in the shower, got changed and headed out towards the town. We must have spent about 3 hours walking about, doing a bit of shopping, and just site seeing. It was a beautiful city, and Ben also showed me around his university, which he was particularly excited about. When we finally returned to the apartment, we stuck on an episode of the TV show, and snuggled with each other. It was absolutely perfect, and it was so nice to be back in Ben's arms. This was the first Valentine's Day that we were spending together, but it was absolutely superb.

Ben's POV:  
I was waiting for the perfect moment all day. And this seemed like the time. Carlos had nipped to the toilet, so we paused the TV show. I had kept the necklace on me all day, and had made a special playlist of all his favourite songs. I lit a few candles to make the place feel more romantic, and waited for him to come out of the toilet. When I heard him walking back into the room, I got down onto one knee in front of the couch. "Ben, what's going on" I heard him ask, and his facial expression changed when he saw what I was doing. I took a deep breathe, before starting my little speech.

"Carlos, the past few months have been amazing, and even though we haven't spent a lot of time together, I feel like we've connected again. So I was wondering…" I said, pulling the velvet box out of my pocket "If you would be my boyfriend" I finished, opening the box to reveal the necklace inside.

He pulled me into a massive hug, and exclaimed "Yes!" I placed the necklace around his neck, and it looked absolutely perfect on him. "You know how cheesy this is, right?" he asked, chuckling to himself.

"I know you love it" I replied, joining him in his chuckle. We ordered in some pizza for lunch, and continued to watch the TV show together. Most of the time, he was staring at the necklace, and the picture inside. It was my favourite photo of us, and he absolutely loved it as well. The rest of the day consisted of pretty much the same, and it was the best day ever.

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13th March onwards: Third Person POV:  
Unluckily for Ben, his 20th Birthday fell on a Wednesday. Usually, it wouldn't be a problem that it was on a working day, as he would be surrounded by his friends regardless. However, this year, Ben was up in Bayou de Orleans by himself. Everyone had sent him a happy birthday message in the group chat, as well as card with a little bit of money in, but it was a very difficult time of year. Anyway, Ben face-timed his group of friends, and they all sung happy birthday to him, and they chatted for about an hour. Of course, Ben and Carlos decided to chat all night, however it followed the concept of Lego talk. Both of them were too engrossed in their work to be paying too much attention to what the other was saying, so the conversation had no real meaning. They enjoyed the time they spent together however.

Exams were approaching slowly, and the universities were pushing the group to prepare for their final years project. Carlos was busy trying to decide what type of robot to build, and what function it should have. He had already built one that automatically brushed, so should he focus down that route, or should he focus more on the components required to build certain machinery, and equipment, such as circuit boards.

Ben was torn between two of his ideas for his creative writing piece. Everyone was telling him to write what he knows, so he was thinking of basing his piece on his time on the Isle. He had saw a quote about who decided what is good and what is evil, and wanted to explore this, and the Isle was the perfect place for it. He wanted to focus on the concept of 'What it evil to be good on the Isle, or good to be evil' and many of his professors agreed.

Of course, they were still in their second year, so their exams were more important. You could tell that exam season had hit, as all the students either spent all their free time in the library, or in the homes. Luckily for Ben, he prepared at the beginning of the year, so he was feeling fairly confident. He had a copy of all the books that he needed. He didn't buy them, he just photocopied the pages he needed, saving him tons of money. Carlos continued to work with his study group, and they were all feeling pretty confident as well.

As always, exam passed pretty quickly. All that preparation for such a short amount of time. Ben was the first to finish as usual, and was allowed another week in his apartment. His scholarship was over, and he was returning to Auradon Uni for his third year. However, all the professors at the creating writing uni were widely impressed by Ben's work, and wanted to keep in contact with him, providing any help they could if he needed it. They liked how he was willing to write about the unthinkable, and in Auradon, that was pretty much anything dark. Ben had a very unique perspective compared to everyone else, and they wanted him to explore that.

The gang were allowed to stay in the house for the final year of uni, and Ben moved into Carlos' room. He did have the biggest room after all, and they were dating. As per usual, Lonnie returned to Northern Wei for the holiday, to continue her training. She was getting on really well, and was exciting by her future. Jane went to see Fairy Godmother for a bit, but spent the rest of the summer in the house with the rest of them. Doug and Evie went to see Doug's family for a few weeks as well, but ultimately returned to the house as well. Evie was continuing to work over the summer, and Carlos had also received an internship during the summer for an engineering business, which he was excited about.

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 **So there is Chapter 11! Benlos are finally official once again, so all is good in the world! Other than that, I want to thank you all again for being so patient with me, and I'll see you on Monday for WILTW**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi Guys and welcome to Chapter 12 of Now the Commoner. I'm running out of things to say here, so I hope you enjoy this chapter! Oh, and please read teh authors note at the end. It's long, but very important! :D**

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 **16th September-Start of the Third Year, Third Person POV**  
Their final year of uni was finally beginning, and everyone was prepared. Well, they thought they were. This year consisted of each of the gang completing either a dissertation, or project. Carlos decided to build a robot, single handily I might add, which could perform numerous tasks. He would base the design off of his Broomba robot that he built on the Isle, but extend its programming, so it could perform any task.

Ben was following his 'good or evil' idea through, exploring what it really meant, and how the meaning of the words were distorted to fit what has happening in the current situation. He was excited to fully explore this, and had the support of all of his professors from both universities.

Lonnie had to complete a project for her Sport Science course. She had to work with three different groups of people and host exercise classes, encouraging them to get fit. She would have to collect results from each session, to show how the result changed over time, and complete a short presentation on it.

Evie had to write a dissertation for her business degree. She chose something to do with Fashion, of course, and detailed how each of the businesses differed, from management to placement around the world.

Doug was focusing on his chemistry dissertation. He was writing about how chemicals are being used for everyday life, and how some chemicals could be adapted to better fit the purpose of others.

Jane had completely moved out of the house, and no one really knew where she had went. They all kept in contact in the group chat, and saw her around the uni, but that was really it.

The University year began as usual, a lot of partying, getting drunk and the group waking up the next morning not really remembering what had happened. But they were enjoying it, and that's all that mattered. When the first real week of university began, basically all the partying came to a grinding halt, with everyone too focused on studying. The third year was completely up to choice, with no core modules, so everyone was always doing something that they loved. The first real chance they got to party was Carlos' 20th Birthday.

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 **6th October, Carlos' 20th Birthday. Carlos POV:**  
Today was my 20th Birthday, and I was really hoping what Evie said last year was correct. With all the stress at the moment, it was very likely that something would go wrong, but I was really hoping it did. My birthday fell on a Sunday, so everyone had the day off.

I woke up in the morning to find that Ben had cooked me my favourite breakfast. "Happy Birthday babe" he said, kissing me on the forehead. I sat up, and he placed the tray on my lap. As I dove in, he asked me one simple question. "What do you want from me today?" which threw me a little bit. I was unsure on what he meant. Did he mean present wise, or was he speaking generally. I questioned him on it, and his response was fairly clear. "Well, what do you want from me? Do you want me to spend the day with you, or do you want some space? Do you want to stay in all day, or do you want to go out? Whatever you want, I can do" he finished with a smile. Then it clicked. It was three years ago today that we first broke up, and Ben did not want that to happen again, I could see it in his eyes. He was willing to do anything for me, to make sure that nothing bad happened. Even if it meant not seeing him all day.

"I don't really know. I would like to spend the day with everyone, but if I gets too much I'll let you know" I responded, causing him to smile. I unwrapped the gifts he got me, and as always they were very thoughtful. I got showered, and dressed before making my way downstairs to greet everyone. "Happy Birthday Carlos" everyone shouted as they saw me coming down, and they all ran in to give me a hug. I opened the rest of the gifts that everyone else got me, and we all chatted for a little bit whilst the rest of them had breakfast. I decided I wanted to do a little shopping during the day, and have a party later.

I spent the day looking at all the new and exciting tech that was out. Not that I needed any, but I wanted to have a look. New phones were being released as well as tablets, laptops and computers, and this always fascinated me. I liked comparing them, seeing each of the pros and cons, and seeing how they could be improved. However, I could see it bored the hell out of Ben. He wasn't really into all this stuff, instead following a simpler life of reading books on whatever I told him was good. He remained strong however, as he didn't want to do anything to risk upsetting me.

We stopped for some lunch, and continued our shopping trip for a bit, before heading back to the house, and chilling out for a bit. Everyone got some alcohol in for the party, and I invited some more people round this time, so it wasn't just the 5 of us. James came round, as we still hung out as well as a few people from my engineering class. I could see that it was awkward for Ben and James at first, but James was the first one to admit that he had moved on, finding himself a new boyfriend on his geography course. That made Ben relax, and after that, they got on great, chatting about how they were getting on. James was fascinated by Ben's idea for his literature course, and Ben was fascinated by James' dissertation for geography.

My friends from my engineering class were not what I expected. I had been working with them for 2 years by this point, but had never gone out with them partying. It wasn't long before they got absolutely hammered with the help of Doug and Evie I might add. They spent all night dancing, and drinking with was pretty funny to watch. They did have to be careful however, as it was a Sunday so tomorrow they would need to get up for lectures. I planned to ask how they were doing in the morning, and expected some interesting comments. Ben and I had a little dance together which was quite nice. I planned to see how much I could turn him on, which was funny, especially when he was wearing skinny jeans. A few times he had to sit down for a few minutes, but that didn't stop me from giving him a few lap dances, only turning him on more. I pretty sure he went and jacked off at one point, as he left for about 10-15 minutes before returning.

Anyway, the night was really enjoyable, and everyone had a great time. It had probably hit about 4:00am on Monday morning, before everyone decided to go home. Luckily I only needed to go upstairs to sleep, but those poor engineering kids needed to get home, and then sleep. Plus we had a lecture at 9:00am, so that only meant 4 hours sleep at the most for me. But hey, birthdays only happen once a year, so it was all worth it.

* * *

 **9th December –Evie's 21st Ben's POV:**  
Today was Evie's 21st birthday, and to be perfectly honestly, it was probably the biggest event of the entire year, even though it fell on a Monday. With the help of Belle, Evie had managed to plan the biggest party of the entire year. She had rented out a huge hall, and invited almost everyone she could find to come along. She was 21 after all. Anyway, her party began at 9:00pm, but we spent as much of the day with her as we could. Luckily, everyone was back at the house for about 3:30pm, with all the lectures, and group sessions finishing.

Belle had told me that she wanted to visit Evie today, and to make sure that she was at the house for 4:00pm. What her intentions were, I had no clue until she pulled up. We were all sat watching TV, when we heard someone beeping outside. I took this as the signal, and we all followed Evie out of the door. Belle was there, sat on the door of a midnight blue car. A Vauxhall Corsa E. Well, that's what google told me anyway. The car had a bow on the bonnet, and happy birthday banners trailing down the side. Belle was quick to speak up when we exited the house. "Happy 21st Birthday Evie, I hope you like your present" she said, holding out the keys to the car. Evie just squealed as she pulled Belle into the biggest hug ever.

She was repeating "Thank you thank you" over and over again. Belle had made sure to gift us all driving lessons when we were officially pardon off the isle, so Evie, Carlos and I at least knew how to drive.

Anyway, Evie took us out for a spin in her new car, and it was a comfortable ride. It was only a 3 door, so you had to slide the seats forwards to get in the back, but for Evie's use it was perfect. Evie was a good driver, although it took her a while to get used to it. The house had space for about 3 cars on the drive, and with Evie being the first, she decided to position the car, so that no one else could fit on, Strategic…

We spent the rest of the evening catching up with Belle, in which she asked a rather difficult question. "I was wondering if you guys wanted to have Christmas with us this year, at the castle. It seems only far, since you invited me last year." Everyone else seemed rather optimistic about the event, whilst I was just sceptical. The last time I was there was the last time I saw Beast, after he had decided my fate. I agreed anyway, for the sake of everyone else. Other than that, we just chatted.

It reached 7:00pm, and Evie decided it was time for her to start getting ready. After all, she needed to do her hair for 30 minutes, and then make up for 30 minutes, and put on some clothes. I'll never understand it. Anyway, that left Carlos and me with Belle. The pair of us only needed an hour to get ready, and we both needed to shower. She asked how our studies were going, and I told her about the project I was working on. She seemed really intrigued by the concept, being an avid reader herself. Carlos told her about his engineering project, and she was interested by this topic as well. If I'm being perfectly honest, I think all the technical stuff went straight over her head, like it did mine, but she looked like she was interested and that's all that mattered.

It reached 8:00pm, and Carlos and I excused ourselves from the conversation. Belle had to leave anyway, she had to get ready for the party as well. We got showered, and dressed, both trying to look as smart-casual as we could, and waiting for Evie, Doug and Lonnie to get ready. It reached 8:50pm, and everyone was finally dressed and ready. It seemed like Belle had hired a limousine to take us to the event, to try and make it as special for Evie as possible. The limo had champagne, sweets, the lot in the back and everyone was quick to dive in, indulging themselves. It was about a 15 minute car ride, meaning we arrived 5 minutes late to the event. "Fashionably Late" Evie said, as we all got out the back of the limo. Everyone was stood waiting for us. Evie and Doug walked side by side, holding hands with each other, whilst Carlos, Lonnie and I walked together, with me holding both their hands, the three of us chuckling to ourselves.

The night proceeded as usual, a lot of drinking and dancing. With the whole of the uni being invited, there was a nice atmosphere, but it was also a bit crowded. I dragged Carlos outside with me on more than one occasion just to get some air. The party raged on until 5:00am the next day, with was a Tuesday. Most of the students had lectures at 9:00am, but almost like magic, neither I nor Carlos did, meaning we could sleep in, and get some rest. Evie finished the night looking like she had a good time. I mean, her hair was a complete mess, and she had managed to spill alcohol all down her dress, but those were the signs I used to determine how good it was.

* * *

 **Third Person POV:**  
The next big event of the year was Christmas, and we all know what that means. Fun and joy? No no no. Massive awkwardness for Ben. The first half of Christmas day proceeded as usual. Everyone woke up, exchanged gifts and got ready for lunch. Which this year was being held at the Castle. Evie was elected to drive them all, which was only her, Doug, Ben and Carlos, since Lonnie had gone home. Belle had offered to send them a limousine, but Evie was obsessed with her new car, and wanted to drive it everywhere. It did look a little out of place at the castle, but did she care? Of Corsa not (he he).

Anyway, the day went as well as could be expected.

 **Ben's POV:**  
We all arrived at the castle, with our best outfits. Belle had told us that we could get changed before lunch, so we didn't ruin our outfits on the car ride out. Anyway, when Evie pulled up at the castle, we were greeted by Belle and Beast, causing awkwardness to pursue. We all bowed, causing the beast to say "You may rise." He walked over to everyone, hugging Evie, and shaking Doug's and Carlos' hand. When he approached me, I could feel the tension in the air. We shook hands, and both acted as professional as possible.

Well, I say that, but there was no emotion on his face at all, whilst I was trying to hide my embarrassment. Belle greeted everyone as usual, hugging us all, and we were eventually led into the castle. We followed some of the castle guards to some spare rooms, and quickly got changed into our formal dining wear. In all fairness, it seemed a bit excessive, having to wear a suit over dinner. But thinking back on it, I did it for 17 years when I was a prince. God have I changed over the past few years.

We made our way to the royal dining room, to see that we weren't alone in this endeavour of ours. Me, Carlos, Doug, Evie joined by Lonnie and Jane sat on one side of the table, whilst Belle, Beast, Fairy Godmother, Mulan, Li Shang, Snow White, Prince Charming and the Seven Dwarves sat on the other side. "Lonnie, Jane, Doug, I thought it would be nice to spend Christmas with your families" I heard Beast announce, and it was like a dagger to my heart. Luckily, I was sat opposite Belle, so she just gave me a warm smile trying to soften the blow. The chefs brought out all the food, and god was there a lot of it. It seemed like there was about 3 dishes of everything, so there was no worries getting anything you want. I'm not gonna lie, I loaded up on stuffing, and pigs in blankets, as well as turkey, as this was my favourite. Plus, with all the food, it looked like it could feed our house for the next year without trouble.

Dinner conversation arose, with everyone asking how uni was going, but that's when things became awkward. Carlos told them how he was getting on, and that went down well. To be honest, if went well for everyone except me. "Ben, how's your literature course going?" I heard Mulan ask.

"It's going well thank you. I'm just in the middle of my dissertation." They proceeded to ask what it was about, so I explained about how the meaning of good and evil differed on where you were.

That's when beast decided to push the topic to its limits. "Surely the good action will always be good no matter what?" he asked, before expanding on his point. "For example, it's always good to help someone if they need it" he finished, obviously wanting a response for him.

"From my experiences, apparently not. In some situations, it may be better to not help someone, as it may have an impact on their future" I replied, and this is where the argument began. Down hill spiral here we come.

"But in regards to good and evil. Surely it doesn't matter where you are. The good choice will always be good" he stated, causing me to retort back.

"But, good and evil are a matter of perspective. If the good action isn't seen as good, then is it classed as evil? That's what I'm trying to explore."

"So, you're implying that it doesn't matter what you do because if someone sees it in a negative light, that action is immediately evil?" and this is when he hit home. "Say, for example, if you committed an evil offense such as hurting someone intentionally, it's ok to justify that action, because someone may see it as a positive thing. So, it's ok to commit evil offences because as long as someone says it's ok, then no wrong has been done?" the whole table was silent at this point. Everyone was awkwardly starting at each other, waiting for someone to say something.

"No, what I'm trying to say is that it is a group of people that determine whether an action is good and evil, not the action itself. I'm trying to show that the concept of good and evil can be twisted in order to best suit someone's actions." I snapped back, trying to make my point. His final comment was enough to drive me over the edge.

"So, as long as the predominant group of people see it a certain way, then its fine to do whatever you want. Essentially it's a way for someone to justify their actions." Obviously implying that I was trying to justify what I had done may years ago. I could feel the anger building inside of me, so I had to leave.

"If you'll excuse me, I need a minute alone" I said, getting up from the table. But the king decided to push further.

"No, you are not excused. We are in the middle of a discussion, and that would be rude. Or would it, depending on the view of everyone here." The king then decided to ask everyone's opinion on whether my asking to be excused was rude. Belle tried to stop him, but the king continued to push and push and push. That's when I decided to snap right back at him.

"Ok, if we are asking everyone what is good and evil, then I have a question. If someone has inherited an illness or say curse from the family, is the good thing to do, to tell the person who has inherited the illness that they have it? Or is it evil to keep it a secret from said person?" This was a clear reference to the Beast keeping his curse from me, and boy did he get the reference.

"How dare you insult me, after everything that has happened? I do not have to take this from a, from a" he started to stutter, so I decided to join in.

"From a what? A Villain? Or is that a subjective word as well, depending on the opinion of everyone here." By this point, we were both stood up, staring at each other over the table. "Now, if you don't mind, I would like to be excused" I said, walking away from the table. The king was furious at my remark towards him, but Belle had managed to calm him down. I could hear muttering coming from the table, between Snow White and Prince Charming, between Mulan and Li Shang, and between all seven of the dwarves.

I went to the bathroom to try and calm myself down. During the conversation, so much anger had built inside of me, and I needed to vent. I decided to shout into the mirror, and then splash some cold water on my face, hoping to cool me down. After about 5 minutes, I returned to a rather awkward table. Everyone was sat in silence eating their food, and when I joined them, it did not help. I could see that the King was itching to say something towards me, but Belle had obviously convinced him otherwise.

Mulan finally spoke up, continuing to ask everyone else about their university courses. The rest of the day continued with the same awkwardness. The king and queen had to make their usual speech, and before long, the four of us left. I think the tension in the room got too much for everyone, so the best thing to do was for us to leave. I said goodbye to everyone, but the King, which aggravated him even more. Belle promised to see me on my birthday, and that was the end of it.

The car ride home was also awkward, with everyone scared to approach the topic. Finally I decided to bring it up. "Do you think I was out of line? With what I said and that?" I asked rather nervously, waiting for everyone to jump on me.

But instead, Carlos spoke up, in a rather soft voice. "When you were away, we discussed what you said. We all thing that it was wrong of the king to push you like that. He should have just let the topic rest. Plus to be fair, you did try to avoid the argument by trying to leave. Don't worry Ben, whatever has happened has been done and you can't change that now." Causing everyone in the car to nod.

Then he whispered in my ear rather seductively "besides, I thought it was hot to see your beastly side" he said, nibbling at my ear, fairly efficiently turning me on. I'm sure you can imagine what happened when we got back to the house.

* * *

 **Ok, so there is Chapter 12. I hope you guys enjoyed it, although I have to admit it probably wasn't one of the best as a whole. Personally, I loved writing the argument between Ben and Beast, as I thought that topic would be interesting to explore, but let me know what you think.**

 **Also, thank you to danisfan3000 and MaliceMalAmyMalevFaery for reviewing the last chapter.**

 **To danisfan3000: Personally, I never considered a divorce between Belle and Beast, but now that you mention it, it does seem like a likely thing to happen, especially after this chapter. Unfortunately for the rest of this story, they do stay together, but that was an interesting point to make since Beast is a bit of a dick!**

 **And, to** **MaliceMalAmyMalevFaery, unfortunately you dont see Mal and Jay in this story, but now that you've mentioned it, I've made a little note in the sequel to this, so when I eventually start to write that again, you will see them. I'm not gonna lie, I kinda forgot they existed for this story and just focused on Ben and that lot. But dont worry, they will make a return in the sequel.**

 **To give you guys a quick hint for that, the story is called Forever a King, and (i like to think) the story line is different from anything else anyone has written, but I could be massively wrong about that. Um, it is not finished however, but I might post the first chapter of it on here when this story is finished. Depending on the response I get from that will depend how quickly I finish it.**

 **But dont worry, I do have a story to replace this one when it is done, which will be finished by the time this story is. I've been real lazy with my writing lately but I'm pushing through for you guys. Anyway, that was enough rambling from me, god I can go on. Until Monday TTFN :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hi Guys and welcome back to Now the Commoner. Um, this story is very close to coming to an end as this is the second to last chapter, and I hope I don't disappoint you guys. Oh, and I dont know what got in my head when I wrote this chapter, it's a little weird, well the first part anyway. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Third Person POV:**  
University started again in January, and stress levels returned to their usual high status. Everyone was working on their individual projects, and driving everyone else mad with their incessant babbling about the topic. Ben would constantly repeat the phrase "what's that word" snapping his fingers as he did so, and boy did this annoy everyone. Carlos would constantly threat that he had done something wrong on his robot, and Evie would be screaming, searching the internet for the information she needed, and could apparently never find. However, this all changed on the 24th January.

* * *

 **Ben's POV:**  
I was sat watching the news on the TV, and every channel was covering the eclipse that would happen. According to the TV, it would be a total lunar eclipse coinciding with a 'super moon', which I found really interesting, stating that the moon would pass through the shadow of the earth, or something like that. Anyway, everyone was saying that the moon would appear red for about three to four hours, which I found really fascinating. At the time I didn't think anything of it, but when it began, that quickly changed.

The eclipse began at about 2:00am, and boy did I know it. I started to feel really aggressive, and essentially started to shout at Carlos, freaking the life out of him. He made some comment about my eyes glowing, but I just ignored him, and carried on my rampage. This continued for about an hour, with me waking up everyone in the house, as I threw things onto the floor, or against the walls. Carlos followed me downstairs, and again said that my eyes were glowing a bright red colour, but I just ignored him. I got the overwhelming feeling to kill, but managed to supress it. "Carlos, I need to kill something. I need to hunt!" I shouted at him, causing him to freak out. He was the obvious target, but it was clear I couldn't kill him.

Evie had come running down the stairs, and heard everything I said. "Guys, what's going on?" she asked as I continued to ruin the house, throwing stuff on the floor. "I need to hunt. I need to kill" I kept repeating over and over again, the overwhelming feeling growing and growing. "Take me to a forest or something. I need to hunt something!" I screamed at them, freaking the pair of them out. Evie quickly rushed, and got her car keys. "Ok, Ben, I'll take you to the forest ok" she said, trying to calm me down, but it wasn't working. I got into the back of her car, with Carlos sat in the front, and Evie driving, and the urge to kill kept growing and growing.

I looked up at the moon, and howled like nothing before, and it was so…freeing. Evie and Carlos noticed the moon, and Carlos was quick to google it. I saw him go on a website filled with myths and folklore, explaining the effect of the 'Blood Moon.' Carlos quickly found something, and started to whisper into Evie's ear, and this aggravated me even more. "WHAT?" I screamed, causing the pair of them to jump. Carlos quickly spoke up, obviously fearing for his life. "The website says that Blood Moons make paranormal beasts more aggressive, and that includes werewolves. Ben, it's possible that the moon is causing you to have unusual impulses." He said, frightened of my response.

"I don't care, it feels so good. I feel so powerful" I said, growling under my breath. After a 30 minute car ride, we had reached one of Auradon's forests, and I couldn't contain myself. Before Carlos and Evie had even left the car, I had transformed into a wolf, and was howling in the back seats. This scared Carlos and Evie, causing them to jump out the car, and open the boot, allowing me a quick escape. I leapt over the back seats, and ran into the forest, not even looking back at them. I felt so free, so powerful, and I just wanted to hunt and kill something. I made my way deep into the forest, spotting small rabbits, which were easy prey. In the cover of night, I was almost invisible to them, allowing me to pounce and kill them with ease, but it wasn't enough, I needed a real challenge. I spotted some elk in the distance, and knew it was perfect prey. It was strong, and could run fast, challenging my own ability.

I slowly approached it, stalking it from the shadows, before I found the perfect opportunity to strike. It had entered a clearing, which raised hills around it, allowing me to jump on its back. I did so, and dug my claws into it, drawing blood quite quickly. I managed to rip a few chucks of flesh out, before it bucked me off, throwing me to the ground. I turned to face me, using its horns to keep me at bay when I lunged for it. It had managed to back me into a corner, but I wasn't going to let this inferior animal defeat me.

It started to charge towards me, so I jumped out of the way, and managed claw at its legs in the process. I heard the elk whimper, and the sound it made was enjoyable. The elk turned, and decided to run, knowing it was outmatched and this only excited me more. I chased after it, attacking its legs when I could, and before long, I could see it was getting weak. I managed to rip another chuck of flesh out of its side, causing it to whimper even louder, and collapse to the floor. It still tried to put up a fight, but before I could deliver a final blow, I was thrown off of it. I got up off the floor to see that another couple of elks had joined in, trying to protect its friend.

Finally a real challenge. The two elks positioned themselves in front of their friend, using their horns to keep me at bay, but it wasn't enough to stop me. I started to use them against each other, slipping between the two elks causing them to hit each other instead. I then went for their ankles, trying to pull them to the ground, and it was working. There was blood all over my fur, and I was thriving in the feeling. I went for the elk closest to me, ripping chunks of flesh out of its side, causing it to whimper in pain. The other elk quickly took charge, only to be defeated in the same manor. Before long, I had three dying elks in front of me, each trying to defend themselves. I delivered one last slash to each of their throats, killing them, and the rush of power that I got was amazing.

This continued for the whole night. I kept finding animals to kill, and I kept killing them, leaving a trail of death whenever I went. This continued until dawn, when I felt the urges start to calm down. I looked up at the moon, and could see that the eclipse was close to ending, so I tried to find my way out of the forest. Funnily enough, I hadn't kept track of where I was going, and ended up making my way deeper and deeper into the forest. I must have walked for about 3 hours, when I started to see civilization through the trees. Well, I say civilization, but it was more just a road with a few cars on it. But that was all I needed.

I stayed in my wolf form, following the road hoping to find a sign at some point. I knew if I returned to a human, then I would be naked for sure, and I didn't really need that. However, the problem was, once I found Auradon City, I would still need to make my way back to the house, and I don't think they would be too happy if a wolf was roaming the streets. I needed a way to call Evie, and ask her to pick me up. And let's be fair, phone booths didn't really exist anymore, so I would need a mobile phone. So far, my plan was falling apart, so I needed to ask someone for help.

I made my way towards the road, and switched back into my human form. I tried to cover myself up as best I could, before essentially hitchhiking, trying to get someone attention. As you can well imagine a naked person stood at the side of the road got many weird looks, but no one stopped and offered to help. Instead, they just carried on driving. Eventually, a lovely young couple spotted me, and pulled over offering assistance. They were luckily carrying a towel, so I was able to wrap it around myself, and I was allowed to use their mobile phone to ring Carlos.

"Hello? Who is this?" he asked rather cautiously.

"Carlos, its Ben. I need your help" I said rather sheepishly down the phone. After what had happened last night, I was surprised that he didn't hang up as soon as I asked, but luckily he didn't.

"Oh, Ben. Thank god. I have been worried sick all night. Are you ok, where are you?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. But I don't know where I am. I just found a piece of road, and headed for it" I admitted to him. Luckily, the young couple knew where we were, and were able to give Carlos my location. It turns out that I was over an hour away from Auradon City, but Evie and Carlos were willing to come at get me. The young couple stayed with me until they showed up, and I thanked them for their help. Evie offered them some money, but they refused saying that they were happy to help. I got into the back of the car, and could see some scratches in the seats, but nothing major.

We started our journey back, and Carlos finally decided to pipe up. "Ben, do you know what happened?" he asked, but unfortunately I couldn't give him a response.

"I don't know, and I'm so so sorry for what I did to the house. I was just so angry, but I don't know why. You should have seen me in the forest, I attacked everything I saw" I answered rather nervously.

"It's fine, there isn't any real damage anyway" Evie answered, which relaxed me slightly.

"Do you guys know what happened?" I asked rather sheepishly. And of course Carlos answered.

"Like I said last night, the 'Blood Moon' causes paranormal animals to go berserk, so I'm guessing it messed with your curse, sending you…mad. But it wasn't only that. We get 2-4 eclipses every year, and this has never happened before, so I searched further. It turns out that this eclipse coincided with a super moon, when the moon is closest to the planet. So we effectively had a Super Blood Moon" Carlos finished, as I just slumped back into my seat, embarrassed by my actions, but I fell asleep rather quickly. It had been a long night, and I was running around for most of it, well that and killing.

We got back to the house, only to be awoken by Carlos shaking me. "Come on Ben, let's get you to bed" he said softly. I followed him upstairs and collapsed straight onto the bed, making myself comfortable. I felt Carlos pull the covers over me, before kissing me on the forehead, and saying "Goodnight, my love." I muttered something back to him, but it was more noises than words. I curled up into a little ball, and quickly fell asleep.

* * *

 **14th February-Valentine's Day, Ben's POV**  
It's Valentine's Day again, and this year it also marks mine and Carlos' 1 year anniversary as boyfriends. I know it was a bit cheesy, but to be perfectly honest, this was the longest we had ever been together. Even when the incident happened, we were only dating 6 months before he broke up with me, so to last a year was impressive. And boy did I want to make it special.

We all know what Carlos is like at this point. He likes to stay in, and snuggle on Valentine's Day, watching cheesy rom-coms and all that lovey-dovey stuff. But I had some different plans. I wanted to take Carlos on a tour of Auradon, showing him the most beautiful and romantic places there was. There was the enchanted lake, a spot that I loved to visit when I was younger, and there was this beautiful cliff that overlooked the whole of Auradon City. Then after a bit of swimming, I wanted to take Carlos to the cinema, to watch one of the newest rom-coms that was out. It came out today, so I had pre-booked our tickets about 3 weeks ago by this point. After that, we could finally return home, where I would cook him a lovely meal, with all his favourite foods.

He woke up earlier than me this morning, which was unusual, about 9:30am. He cooked me a lovely breakfast as usual, and we chatted for a bit. The pair of us took a shower, and got dressed before heading out. "So Ben, what's the plan for today?" he asked as we got into Evie's car.

"Well, luckily, Evie has allowed me to use the car for today, so I thought we could do a bit of sightseeing first" I said, pulling off of the drive. As we drove, we listened to one of my custom playlists, playing all the songs that we both loved, and we sang together. Boy was that fun. It must have taken us about 30 minutes to reach the lake. I pulled down one of the side roads, making sure the car wouldn't be spotted, and pulled out a basket full of food.

"Going for a picnic are we?" he said all smug, and I just chuckled, responding "You'll see." I made Carlos cover his eyes as we approached the lake, and I guided him down the path. We had to cross a rather old bridge, and I discovered something new about Carlos that day. He does not like bridges. I held his hand the whole way across, and he told me why he didn't like them. It was when he went to get the dragon eye sceptre for Maleficent. Apparently he had to pass a test in order gain access to the fortress.

Anyway, once we were across the bridge, I made him cover his eyes again, and before long, we had reached the lake. "You can open them now" I said, and the look of his face when he did.

"Ben, this place is beautiful." He said, walking onto the ivy covered stone platform, surrounded by pillars, some that were crumbling. There were beautiful rock formations, with different caves leading into the cliffs surrounding it. We dropped the picnic basket in the middle of the platform, and Carlos sat beside it, still amazed by this place.

"Shall we go for a swim?" I asked, already unbuttoning my shirt, and getting changed. Carlos nodded, and stripped into his swimming wear as well. I climbed onto one of the nearby cliffs, and shouted over to him "Wanna join me?" and I just received a look from Carlos that explained everything. I roared as a joke, before jumping into the water, causing a rather large splash. I swam back up and saw Carlos jumped in from the platform, before swimming over to me.

"Impressive" he said, before splashing me with water, and diving under, trying to get away. "Oh, it's on!" I said, chasing after him.

We must have spent about an hour in the water, before we decided to eat some food. We did the whole tell me something about yourself that you've never told anyone, but to be perfectly honest, we knew everything about each other. We just sat, chatted, snuggled and enjoyed the time we had together. I took Carlos up to the cliff, and showed him the view of Auradon, and he was completely amazed.

At this point, it was about 12:00pm, so the sun was beaming over the city, and it was all visible. The movie was at 2:00pm, so we weren't in too much of rush, but I liked to get to the movies an hour early, so we could get some food, and be prepared for when the film starts. There's nothing worse than rushing. We chilled on the cliff until 12:30pm, and decided it was time to head off. With a half an hour car ride to the cinema, hopefully the timing would be perfect. We sang to a few more songs, before arriving at the cinema. "So, what are we watching?" Carlos asked, and I decided to toy with him a little bit.

"Well, there's this new horror film out, and I thought it would be nice to see it" I said, and Carlos' face went pale. He hated horror films, but I knew didn't want to upset me. I grabbed the tickets, making sure not to show him the movie, and we grabbed some popcorn and a drink. Throughout the whole of the trailers, Carlos snuggled into me, burying his face into my chest. Luckily, he missed the first announcement of the film, so when it began, he was absolutely petrified. I found it really cute.

Anyway, when the title of the movie popped up, and I made sure he saw it, and he absolutely freaked out when he saw it. "Ben, are we seeing the new rom-com? The one I've wanted to see forever?" he exclaimed, with the biggest amount of joy of his face.

"Huh? God, we must have entered the wrong movie" I joked back to him, handing the ticket. "Happy Valentine's Day, babe" I said to him, kissing him on the cheek. The film lasted 2 hours, and the whole time he snuggled into me. I'm not gonna lie, it was the same as ever other rom-com, but he absolutely loved it, so I watched it for him.

Carlos' ended up crying at the end of the film, and luckily I brought some tissues with me. He was a complete mess, but I just found it so cute. We made our way back to the car, and headed home. On the drive home, Carlos tuned us into a specific radio station, rather than listening to my playlist. I didn't say anything, but then I heard our favourite song come on the radio, There's Nothing Holding Me Back, by Shawn Mendes. We sat there and sung along some parts were slightly different and then the chorus came on. He quietened us down for the chorus, and turned the radio up massively. Anyway, the usual chorus played, but at one point it slightly changed. The lyric changed to "Ben, there's nothing holding me back."

Anyway, the song continued, and the second chorus did the same, so I just looked at Carlos. At the end of the song there was an announcement. _"That song was specially requested by Carlos who is celebrating Valentine's Day with Ben this year. We have been told that was their favourite song, so we are glad we could help."_ By this point, I was welling up. "Carlos, did you just Shawn Mendes to sing live for me?" I ask, tears streaming down my face.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Ben. I wanted to do something special. I got in touch with Shawn, and he was happy to do so." At this point, I was still driving, but as soon as we stopped, I pulled him into the deepest and most passionate kiss. "Thank you Carlos, Thank you so much!" I repeated over and over again.

We got into the house, and started to cook some dinner, one of Carlos' favourite meals. We both helped out, and messed about for a little bit, before diving in. It was delicious, if I say so myself. We then spent the rest of the evening with Doug and Evie watching movies, and asking them how their day was.

Oh Valentine's Day, it never really changes.

* * *

 **13th March-Ben's 21st, Ben POV:  
** Again, by this point we all know what March 13th means. My birthday. However, today I was 21, so it's supposed to be quite a big one. This year, it fell on a Friday, which confused me for a second, as last year it was on a Wednesday. This year was leap year, meaning everything was pushed forwards a day, so now it's on a Friday. Not that it mattered, as I still had lectures.

I got side tracked again, today was my 21st Birthday, and I woke up as usual, to see Carlos hovering over me with breakfast. This was the second time this year he had already done so, and I could easily get used to it. Anyway, I ate breakfast, got showered dressed etc., and made my way downstairs. Evie, Doug and Lonnie were waiting for me, and quickly pulled me into a hug. I didn't have long however, as I had a lecture at 9:00am, and with exams approaching, I couldn't just skip it. I opened everyone's gifts, which were all very thoughtful, and made my way to campus with the gang.

Lectures were as boring as ever, but it was important to note down everything they said, just in case the most insignificant thing came up on the exam. I had a group session at 12:00, but other than that I was free for the rest of the day. Evie took it upon herself to host the best birthday party I had ever had. She made it clear that it wouldn't upstage hers, but it would still be good. Apparently everyone on my literature course was invited, and to be fair, I didn't how half of them. Anyway, the group session was as good as usual, everyone chipping in ideas about a piece of text. They all focused on the positives, whilst I picked out the negative connotations that the phrases may have. You know, the usual.

Anyway, I got back to the house by 2:30ish, to find it was completely decorated with happy birthday stuff. I expected something was up, as I finished by group session at 1:30, but Evie kept me out for an extra hour. "Guys, this is amazing. Thank you" I said, pulling everyone into a big hug, and I pulled Carlos into a kiss. I spent some time finishing my creative project. I was probably three quarters of the way through by this point, which was better than anyone else in my class. I heard beeping outside, and ran outside to find Belle stood next to a royal blue Ford Fiesta ST, with a bow on the front. "Happy 21st Birthday Ben" she said, pulling me into a big hug. "I hope you like it" she joked, as I just stared at the car in awe.

"Belle, this is amazing, thank you so much" I said, walking around, and checking out the car. The car itself was probably the same size as Evie, but looked so much better. Well, I thought it did, but I might be biased. I took everyone out for a drive, and it was so smooth. Everyone said how good of a driver I was, even when I decided to see how fast I could go down the motorway.

90mph, and I decided that was the limit. I could definitely go faster, but with the Queen of Auradon in the car, I didn't want to push it. We returned to the house, and I forced Evie to move her car, so I could get mine on the drive. It was just perfect. Similar to Evie's party, it was at 9:00pm, so we had a few hours to kill. We chatted, and watched some TV, and I decided to ask how the King was doing. Belle remained as calm as possible when she told me. We hadn't really spoken since Christmas, so she decided to bring it up. "Ben, I'm so sorry about what happened over Christmas. He had no right to do that to you" she said, but I was completely fine with it. We both said some things that day that we weren't proud of, so I decided to apologise as well.

"I'm sorry as well. I didn't mean to insinuate that the incident was your fault. I was just so angry at him, and it kinda slipped out" I admitted, and we both forgave each other. Conversation continued until 8:00pm, when Belle needed to leave to get ready for the party.

Carlos and I got ready as well and similar to Evie's, a limousine was waiting outside. I won't go into too much detail of what happened at the party. But there was a lot of drinking, dancing and more drinking. My favourite songs came on, and I decided it would be a good idea to get on stage and sing them. I was very drunk at this point, but personally I think I nailed it. Everyone else didn't seem to agree however. Carlos decided to join me in one of the songs, and we sung a cute little duet together. We then continued to dance and drink. The party probably didn't end until 6:00am the next morning, but luckily it was a Saturday, so no one seemed to care. Belle and Fairy Godmother dropped in, but didn't stay for very long. I think they saw how everyone was getting, and decided it was best to avoid anything. I did catch up with them however, and promised to visit them both during the summer holiday. But I was also very drunk, so I think I said some things to them that I can't remember.

Anyway, be got back to the house at 6:30am, and I just fell asleep on the couch. I couldn't be bothered to walk up the stairs, so I decided that was the best place for it. I think Carlos went up to bed, but to be perfectly honest, I don't know. I woke up about 1:00pm on the Saturday with a very bad headache, and made a quick dash for the toilet, only to find Evie was already throwing up in there, so I decided to use the sink. All you can probably tell, that wasn't a very good day.

* * *

 **So I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and reading back through it, it was definitely a bit out there. But, what do you expect from me?**

 **Thank you to Sexly Sango for leaving a review, but unfortunately no more Isle kids join them, atleast in this story, but you're providing me ideas for the sequel, which I am grateful for.**

 **Speaking of which, I've figured out my problem. I'm great at planning and writing stories, but I can't finish them, so as bad as this sounds, dont expect too much from the next chapter. I'm so sorry. Let's just say that I had 3 stories that I'm in the middle of writing, 2 more that I've started but not got a lot done with, and 2 more planned, so yeah... at least I wont run out of stuff anytime soon.**

 **Until Monday guys, TTFN :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Oh god, I'm getting all emotional! So Welcome back to la finale of Now the Commoner. Thank you guys so much for the support on this story, it has been amazing, and here's to roughly 14 weeks of me uploading this. Um, stick around at the end, cause I have some questions for you guys, but until then lets begin!**

* * *

 **Third Person POV:**  
The next few months was a complete stress feast. Everyone was rushing to finish their dissertations and projects, as well as trying to revise for the end of year exams.

Ben was the first to finish his dissertation, and his success made everyone else more stressed. He slightly calmed down, causing everyone else to freak out. He solely focused on the exams that he was taking, and had received feedback saying that his writing piece was superb, and easily one of the best in the class. It was also given to the university in Bayou de Orleans to make sure that Auradon University weren't being too generous, and that university said exactly the same thing. Ben had secured a very good grade on his project, and he was thrilled.

Evie was probably the second person to finish her project, and she was thrilled. It's safe to say that she hadn't been herself recently. She stopped wearing as much make-up, and only placed her hair into simple styles saving her a lot of time. Once she had finished her dissertation, this all quickly changed, and the old Evie was back. She also focused on revision for her exams, having a study group over at least twice a week, and she went to everyone else every other night.

Carlos' robot project was coming along well, but he always wanted to add something else to it. Carlos was panicking massively, and was trying to make his robot absolutely perfect. Ben had to literally pry him away from it, and convince him that it was fine. And of course Ben was right. Carlos got the highest grade in the class, saying that his robot was 'unique' and 'inventive.' This gave Carlos a lot of hope, and he focused more on his revision. Ben and Carlos saw little of each other over this period, as they were always out studying with class mates.

Lonnie and Doug finished their projects last. Lonnie had been working on hers all year, so she wasn't too worried about it. Doug was similar to Carlos, trying to make sure that it was perfect, and it was, so none of them had to worry.

When exam season hit, they were all prepared. Everyone went into the exam claiming they didn't know anything, and came out saying they failed, so it was the typical response. Everyone had finished their exams by the 29th of May, and the university and their house kicked them out on the 1st of June. Luckily, they had all already found places to live so they were prepared for the future. Well, at least they thought they were. Ben had told everyone that he was holding an end of year party, but he had a hidden agenda. Belle got involved relatively quickly, and they both made sure it was absolutely perfect.

* * *

 **31st May, 7:30pm, Ben's POV:  
** I decided that the party should begin a little earlier this time, and I had something in mind, so I told everyone to meet us at 8:00pm. However, I was experiencing some nerves about the whole event. I had asked Evie to design Carlos and me the perfect suit, but had kept the reason a secret. The suits she designed amazing, and Belle had said that I could get changed at the castle. I needed to rehearse, and make sure that everything was perfect. Whilst I was getting changed in the toilet, she was waiting in the bedroom to provide the finishing touches. "What if he says no? What will I do then?" I asked her, panicking entirely.

"Don't worry Ben, he won't say no. It's all going to be fine. You have been planning this for ages, everything will be perfect" she reassured me, but to be honest, it didn't really help. I was too paranoid to be calm. Until it had all happened, it would be in this state. I promised to pick up the gang from the house at 7:45pm, and we would all arrive in a limousine to the event. You know, because we could. I walked out of the bathroom, and Belle gasped at how I looked. "Ben, you look amazing" she said, brushing down the suit, making sure there was no dust on it. I messaged Evie, telling her we were on our way.

* * *

 **Carlos POV-7:30pm:**  
I had gotten changed into the suit that Evie had made it, and it was amazing. I'm not quite sure why she made it, but I didn't want to turn her down. She had obviously worked hard on it, and it would have been rude to say no. "Have you guys seen Ben?" I asked, noticing his lack of presence all day. Evie answered.

"No, he said that he had a few errands to run before the party, and that he would pick us up at 7:45pm." We all sat eagerly and waited, until we saw the limousine pull up outside.

"Here he is" I said rather sarcastically at the limousine outside. We walked outside, and Ben greeted us. He looked smashing, in his blue and gold suit as usual. I was in a black, white and red suit of course. "We never change" I said to him, gesturing to our suits, and he just laughed.

* * *

 **Ben's POV:  
** I was completely freaking out when Carlos got into the limousine. He looked so perfect in his suit. His shirt clings to his muscular chest, and his blazer emphasises his strong shoulders. I was completely lost for words, so I just stared at him. Evie and Doug noticed, and decided to bring up a topic of conversation, the future, and it didn't settle my nerves. "So, what are you guys going to do next? I mean, we're finished with education" Evie said, and I just freaked out.

"I-I'm not sure. I haven't really thought about it. Hopefully I can get a job I can enjoy" I answered. I hadn't really thought about my future beyond tonight. Evie explained that she planned to open her own fashion business, and we all knew she could do it. She made fantastic dresses, and with her degree, she knew how to run a business. Carlos was a little unsure as well. He said that he wanted to do something with engineering, but he was unsure what. Doug was exactly the same to be fair, it seems no one had any plans. As well all knew, Lonnie was returning to her kingdom, to assume her place as advisor, so this was probably the last time we would ever see her.

We arrived at the ball, and my heart was now in my mouth. Everything was happening so fast, and I wasn't ready for it. Oh, snap out of it. I had been preparing this for weeks or months by this point, I knew what I was doing. Carlos and I got out of the limousine first, and linked arms as we walked into the ball. To be fair, it's not like anyone really cared. Everyone was too busy dancing to notice that we entered. God it wasn't like I was a prince anymore.

We made our way straight to the bar, and ordered ourselves a few drinks. Belle pulled me away from Carlos, saying she needed to borrow me for a second. "Right Ben, at 9:30pm, Carlos' favourite song is going to come on. Like we planned, get to the middle of the dance floor. All the lights will go out, apart from one spot light on you and him. And then…"

"I propose to him. I've got his don't worry." I reassured her. Anyway, Carlos and I spent about half an hour at the bar and then we chatted to some people. Some from my course, and some from his. It reached 9:00pm, and I decided it was time to drag him onto the dance floor. I could see everyone was getting ready, and I knew it was time when the whole room went completely dark. I got down onto one knee as his favourite song started to play, and he just looked at me "Ben?" he asked, but I began my little speech.

"Carlos, the last four years of our lives have been hectic to say the least. But throughout them all I loved you. When I met you on the Isle, you were the first person who didn't try to hurt me. Instead, you listened to what I had to say, and ended up saving my ass. You offered me refuge when no one else would, and you introduced me to the most amazing people. God, you travelled the whole of Auradon trying to save me from my own stupidity. This last year has been the best of them all. We've managed to stay strong under some considerable stress, and you've always been there for me when I needed it. Now, I know that I haven't been the best boyfriend in the world, but I was wondering if you would do the honour, of marrying me?" I finished, pulling my beast ring of off my finger and holding it up to him.

I could see the tears in his eyes as I did so, and he screamed "YES!" as loud as he possibly could. "Yes Ben, I will marry you. Yes yes yes!" he kept repeated as I slid the ring onto his finger. I pulled him into a passionate kiss, the first one as fiancé's, and it was absolutely perfect. We must have stood there for at least two minutes, whilst everyone cheered and clapped for us. Eventually we needed some air, so we both pulled out of the kiss, and looked into each other's eyes. The moment could have not been any better.

Everyone came up and congratulated us, and through it all, I never let Carlos out of my arms. I never wanted to let him go. We shared a dance, with everyone, and then headed back to the bar to get absolutely smashed. This night was about us after all. The party must have lasted all night, as usual, and we got back to our house at 10am the next day. Everyone slightly hungover.

After university, everyone went their separate ways. Carlos and I moved into a small, one bedroom flat as we both started to look for jobs. Carlos quickly found one, whereas I wasn't so lucky. The wedding took place about a year later, and it was absolutely perfect.

Evie started up her own business relatively quickly, as Belle decided to back her idea, and boy did it take off. Before long, Carlos did the same, restarting De Vil Industries as an electrical and mechanical manufacture, and his business took off as well. Within 3 years, Evie's and Carlos' businesses were thriving, and they were making a very good living for themselves.

Carlos and I lived together through the whole thing, and nothing was bringing the pair of us down!

Well, in that moment of time...

* * *

 **Ok, so it's a bit of a short chapter, and I tried to leave it on a cliff hanger, but even I admit it was slightly...shit. But there we are, Ben and Carlos are engaged/married and living happily together. Again, thank you all so much for the views, favourites, follows and reviews on this story, it's so sensational, and of course thank you to Sexly Sango for the review, and I hope this lives up to the happy ending.**

 **The next story will be posted next Thursday, or maybe Friday, depending if I decide to change the schedule, but what I wanted to ask you guys was for feedback. Let me know what you think of anything and everything that I'm doing. Do you like the weekly updates? Personally I do, cause it's not as much stress for me with all my uni work, but what do you guys think?**

 **I've started a BTR story, which isn't close to being finished, but with that one I'm trying to be a bit more descriptive with everything I do, as I've noticed I tend to be a bit to the point but what do you think? Like I said, all feedback is welcome, and I really want to hear what you guys think of it all.**

 **I'm done rambling now, so until Monday TTFN :)**


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